The Rookie: Starship Troopers Universe
by AlwaysBetOnVoid
Summary: The intervention of a young but deadly trooper at Fort Casey has a profound affect and those he meets. Take Lance Corporal Tia "Trig" Durer, who happens to room with this trooper-can she trust this Rookie to get the job done? Adding to the confusion, he wields deadly flamethrowers and a fire-breathing shotgun, and has sort of a problem keeping his OTHER personality in check...
1. Prologue PT1

**The Prologue will feature some parts of Starship Troopers: Invasion that I changed to better fit in with my story, after those two parts, the REAL story will begin. As for the dates, times, and locations of things, some of the stuff I made up. Starship Troopers belongs to its respective owners, I own nothing.**

**This is my second fanfiction, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Fort Casey, ****February 2305, Epsilon Star System**

**Moon base of planet P-5421**

Lieutenant Tony Daugherty of A-1 team said, "Alright boys and girls MOVE MOVE MOVE!" as the drop ship made a rather uncomfortable landing in the hangar bay of Fort Casey. The dropship's back hatch lowered and the nineteen man A-1 team poured out. The clanging of their powered suits against the metal floor echoed across the bay.

They immediately formed a firing line around the dropship, firing at a few straggling Warrior Bugs that were moving to intercept the surviving Fort Casey defenders at a blast door right in front of them.

The bugs screamed at the new threat, but were instantly put to rest with metal spikes slamming into their armored carapaces. Daugherty motioned for the team to cease fire and with the flick of his wrist, ordered Ice Blonde and Chase forward to meet the five remaining defenders.

The defenders were firing down the corridor at a few bugs, combined with the new reinforcements from A-1, they too were put down screaming.

Daugherty walked up to the nearest trooper, "Report!"

"Some of our men are hurt pretty bad sir, we still got a team trapped at the other end of the corridor!" he replied while still firing at the bugs.

"Then lets get em' out of there! Chow! Holy Man! On me! We're on a rescue mission people! Keep your eyes down range, fingers on your triggers, and we all go home in one peace! I don't want to lose anyone to friendly fire!" barked Daugherty.

Daugherty, Chow, Holy Man, and the remaining defenders moved down to the intersection further down the corridor, there, they found three other defenders, one heavily wounded.

"Who's in charge here?" asked Daugherty.

"I am, acting Commander Hacks, Bugspary."

"Acting?" echoed Daugherty.

"This was a suicide mission from the start." said the trooper aiding the wounded one.

"Shut your mouth Kharon, anyway, we were on a classified mission when our commander was relieved of duty for insubordination."

"Relieved?"

"That's right."

"Alright I've had enough, Alesia do you copy."

_"Roger that Lieutenant, have you found the survivors?" _replied the captain of the Alesia Corvette.

"Confirmed, too many bugs to take back Fort Casey, Mechs' planting explosives as we speak." replied Daugherty.

Suddenly, the hangar shook as they watched in horror to see their evac, the _John A. Warden_, pull away from the fort and travel into the void of space.

"Thanks for waiting jackass!" Daugherty shook his fist at the cruiser.

As he finished the transmission, there was a loud groaning noise that escalated into the all too familiar cry of the Warrior bugs as the began to pour in by the hundreds from literally everywhere. Some of them leaped to the ground and onto troopers, stabbing some and snapping others like twigs.

"Fall back to the airlock!" cried Daugherty as the remaining troopers formed a perimeter around the airlock, forming a wall of steel and bullets. Suddenly, the blast door behind them opened to reveal the twentieth of the now fourteen member A-1 squad, Trig.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be extravehicular providing cover!" said Ratzass.

"Bugs overran my perimeter, they started at my position." said Trig as she took the job of pulling a wounded trooper from Holy Man, who rejoined the fray.

"_Alesia, we're being overrun, we need evac now!" _said Daugherty.

"_Roger that, proceed to the airlock, once you are all aboard Alesia will_ _depart_." replied the Captain.

"Lets go move A-1!" said Daugherty as they began backing their way through the corridor to the airlock. The corridor has a long line of windows that bordered the vacuum and on the other side a giant steel wall. Ice Blonde hit the control panel, causing the blast door to seal before the last Warrior bug could reach them.

"This is Lt. Daugherty to any remaining Federation forces, retreat to airlock F-7 for evac! If you're still alive then double time it!" he barked. As if by cue, there was a loud thumping noise, and the troopers turned back to the blast door to see a Warrior bug charge its way through the blast door, a noticeable yellow tint on its head.

_Damn battering ram bugs._ thought Daugherty, every 1000 of those suckers had a carapace extra-armored designed specifically for getting through the toughest of Federation metal.

Trig lifted her sniper and fired directly at the bug's nerve cord, as armored as they were, a few well placed shots shot them down instantly. Soon, more bugs began to barge their way into the corridor until the troopers could not hold their position.

"We're moving too slow! Pick it up!" said Daugherty as he fired at a bug that had managed to break through the wall on the left side. Suddenly, another bug burst through right next to him, there was no way he could react in time.

"Look out!" cried Lt. Hacks, or Bugspray as he had called himself, he shoved Daugherty out of the way, causing the warrior Bug to impale the Lt. through the thigh. Bugspray yelled in pain, but he continued to fire into the nerve cord of the bug, eventually putting it down.

"Go! Go! I'll cover you!" yelled Bugspray.

"No! I'm not leaving you behind." barked Daugherty.

"I'm not going anywhere!" said Bugspray, pointing to the claw still embedded in his thigh. Bugspray reached for his waist and pulled out a nuclear grenade. "RUN!" he yelled.

"Move A team, move!" yelled Daugherty. The rest of A-team turned and ran down the corridor.

Lt. Hacks closed his eyes as the beeping of the grenade became more rapid, a warrior bug lunged for him, but the grenade detonated first, consuming Bugspray and about ten other warrior bugs.

Holy Man did the sign of the cross.

"Fall back we're behind schedule!" roared Daugherty as more bugs began emerging from the remnants of the fire from Bugspray's grenade. A-Team was running but the airlock was still fifty yards away, the bugs were catching up and they were running out of ammo.

_"Lt. Daugherty! You must hurry!" _he heard the captain of the _Alesia_ said.

"I know we're getting there!" said Daugherty as he spent his last clip taking down the armored warrior bug. Suddenly, there was a loud, repeating, thudding sound directly above him against the ceiling. Daugherty growled as he waited for the inevitable Warrior bug to burst out of the ceiling and pounce on him.

However, the bug never came and the ceiling gave way, Daugherty leaped out of the way just in time to see the flaming bodies of warrior bugs crash to the ground in front of him. Even this seemed to surprise the Warrior bugs that were chasing them, they stopped and looked at the burning bodies of their brothers. Then, a dark form jumped from the hole in the ceiling, not a bug, but a _trooper._

The trooper crouched in the middle of the two burning corpses as the bugs began to scream at him, realizing him as the killer of their brothers. "What the hell?" asked Trig. "Trooper what are you doing?" roared Daugherty.

However, the trooper did not raise his assault rifle, rather, he didn't even have one. He simply raised his wrists at the bugs...and blue-hot fire leaped from two small funnels on each of his wrists. The flames stayed in cone form until they reached the bugs, where the flames proceeded to simply open up holes in the carapaces of the bugs, turning them into swiss cheese. The trooper began to back up as Daugherty yelled, "Let's go we're almost there!"

A-Team staggered at the surprise of the flame-throwing trooper but managed to make its way to the airlock. The flame-throwing trooper was still pouring flames into the chasing bugs, but Daugherty could no longer see any from beyond the wall of flames.

A-Team made it to the connection between the _Alesia _and Fort Casey, where a few more troopers from the _Alesia _provided cover fire for them. They were already inside the _Alesia_ when they turned to see the trooper still in the corridor.

"Let's go trooper!" he barked.

The trooper began to back pedal faster, and then they heard the screams of warrior bugs coming from the _other_ direction to the airlock. The trooper turned to face the new threat, and simply opened his arms to pour fire into both directions.

"Hit the controls!" said Daugherty. Ice Blonde shoved her hand on the panel, causing the airlock door to begin to shut. At the sound of the door closing, the trooper turned and ran towards them, bugs hot on his tail.

"Run!" yelled Trig.

"Hurry!" screamed Ice Blonde.

"You got it! Come on!" yelled Chow.

The blast door was almost closed when the trooper leaped and did a somersault through the opening, landing just in time before the blast door closed. _"Everyone aboard? Good, we're out of here."_ said the Captain of the _Alesia_ the over the intercom.

The trooper stood up, the entire team's HUD zoomed in on the white lettering on his breast plate, "ROOKIE"

A-Team felt the ground shift as the Corvette broke free of the airlock, turning until its mighty engines faced Fort Casey. The Corvette then accelerated, causing its engines to spray incinerating exhaust upon the extra-vehicular bugs all over the Fort.

The remaining troopers turned to the windows, where they watched Fort Casey get smaller and smaller with the increasing distance. "You gonna do it?" asked Chow.

"Patience man, patience." replied Mech as he raised his gauntlet, for a couple seconds he was silent until he said in correlation with his fingers, "3...2...1...BOOM."

Suddenly, there was an explosion on Fort Casey, where Mech had planted his explosives. The entire team began to cheer loudly. "Ah come guys, this shit ain't over yet." smiled Mech as he nodded at the Fort.

A second later, there was an even larger explosion erupted, causing the entire asteroid Fort Casey was attached to to break apart. This resulted in even longer and harder cheers.

* * *

_**Half an hour later...**_

Daugherty's helmet retracted as did everyone else's inside the locker room. The team snapped to salute which Daugherty waved off. "You can all be proud of yourselves, you saved some lives...and killed some bugs."

The team cheered.

"But we lost some good troopers today...Bugspray, Kharon, Chase, Happy." he raised an imaginary shot glass. "Here's to the dead." he said.

The team replied in unison, "AND TO THE NEXT MAN TO DIE!" they said as they began cheering again. Daugherty, however, was focused on the trooper who had not retracted his helmet, the flame-throwing trooper, who appeared to be trying to sneak out through the back door.

"Hey! You there! Rookie!" said Daugherty as the rest of the team caught up to him. The trooper was surprisingly small, he had the armor of a male, but he only looked about 6'1 compared to someone like Ratzass who was 6'6.

The trooper froze, obviously he didn't want to be seen, even if they couldn't see his face, he slowly turned around to face them.

"You saved our asses back there with your little toys." said Daugherty, pointing to the twin funnels on his wrists, the funnels were connected to tubes that seemed to have small red lights travel up to them and then back to the back of his armor, and back and forth.

"I've gotta say, I've never seen a flame-throwing trooper before, how about we celebrate at the bar before the real party begins on Terra?" he said, smiling. The rest of A-Team cheered the "Rookie" on.

Rookie, as his nameplate suggested, still did not retract his helmet, instead, he looked at the rest of A-Team before he shook his head. To everyone's horror, he turned around and showed everyone the back of his left thigh.

There was a long, sickening gash that began at his upper thigh and extended down to the back of his knee. The armor had been torn away along with his inner suit, blood had stained the the armor around it Daugherty couldn't even see any visible skin.

Rookie jerked his thumb at the door behind him, "Doctor." he said, before he turned and sprinted out of the locker room, the massive injury he sustained seemed to be of no consequence to him, he ran perfectly.

"What the fucking hell?" asked Mech as the door behind Rookie closed.

"Why wasn't he rolling on the ground screaming?" asked Trig. "I mean, he shouldn't even be able to walk let alone run like an Olympian."

Daugherty looked at the door that Rookie had gone through, a trail of blood showing the way he had gone.

"I don't know, but that trooper is an interesting on, once he gets out of the medical bay, we're going to properly introduce ourselves to this flame guy." said Daugherty.


	2. Prologue PT2

**Read and Review! And mention it to your friends! IMPORTANT: I HAVE DECIDED TO EXTEND THE PROLOGUE TO THREE PARTS! This part will explore the Rookie's personality. Part three will finish the rest of the movie/altered by me.**

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_Nebular-Class Corvette Alesia inbound to Terra_

**February 3rd, 2305**

A-1 Team's medic, Shock Jock, was cleaning up after his last patient when the door to the medical bay slid open, revealing the rest of the reformed A-1 team-Daugherty, Ice Blonde, Mech, Holy Man, Trig, Ratzass, Fireman, and Blitz.

He felt himself shake, the origins of which had been patching up the severe cut in the back of Lance Corporal "Rookie's" back left thigh. It had been nasty to clean up, but the Rookie had made no sudden movements, he did not even cry out in pain. "Shock Jock! Stop with the shaking. Where is he?" asked Daugherty.

"Who?" asked Jock warrily.

Daugherty rolled his eyes, "You know damn well who, mister I-have-a-gigantic-gash-in-my-leg-but-I-do-not-feel-pain." he said.

"Oh right, the Lance Corporal, yes, he um...well...can you keep a secret?" asked Jock.

"Kind of defeats the purpose when were all here dumbass." said Ratzass, who received a glare from Daugherty.

"Alright well anyway, I tested his blood to see if there was any sign of infection from the bug slash after he left, might I even say it was illegal?" chuckled Jock, "Anyway, I found enormous amounts of Rumble Drugs, or Deoxynucleic ATP."

"English please Jock." said Daugherty.

"Basically what a Rumble drug does is vastly improve the user's physical strength in a five minute span and usually lasts an hour. During this time, the user is near super-human, reflexes increase by 200%, muscle density increases, and is totally impervious to pain." he finished.

Daugherty raised an eyebrow.

"However, it has a 99.99% fatality rate at the end of its use, the mental instability and physiological damage done by the drug begins to break the body down as soon as it is injected."

"So why isn't he dead yet?" asked Blitz.

"I said I found enormous amounts, yes, enormous amounts located _inside _the gash, the drug had not only improved his performance but also seems to be reversing its fatal purpose and healing the gash, all I really had to do was splash some regenerative liquid "N" on it and it sealed itself up in about, hmmm...half an hour."

"Alright, so this son of a bitch saves us being dropping from the ceiling, uses flamethrowers, and now you're telling us he's a Rumble junkie?" asked Ratzass.

"The first two are correct, however, Deoxynucleic ATP usually stays inactive in the body about a month even after the patient is dead, I found no trace of it in his blood until up to the last five hours."

"So what, he's walking around Fort Casey when he found this drug?" asked Fireman.

"Most likely, I would be lying if I told you troopers across the Federation don't smuggle it in from the Black Market." said Jock as he smiled.

"Well where is he now?" asked Daugherty.

"I don't know, he could be any random trooper walking around with his helmet still on, or a giant tear in his back leg with a perfectly healed wound and fresh scar on him." said Jock.

"Alright whatever, he'll have to report to the next meeting, keep me posted on Arcane's arm." Daugherty said. Arcane had had his left arm bitten by the mighty jaws of a Warrior bug, and Jock told him it had to amputated to make room for a prosthetic.

"Will do sir." Jock said as the squad filed out of the medical bay.

Jock turned back to his tools, he had sedated Arcane in the next room to prepare for his surgery. He looked at the buzz saw on the pantry of tools, as he picked it up, the shaking of his arms resumed.

* * *

**1 hour later...**

Trig was walking back to her quarters, she took a lift back up to the Quarter deck. When the lift door opened she raised an eyebrow to find a young man trying to open the malfunctioning door to her quarters, his shirt off and wearing only some Federation shortss. For a minute she laughed to herself as the more like boy banged his fist on the non-responsive door.

And then she noticed the long scar extending from the end of his shorts down the back of his knee.

It's him, she almost gasped.

the Rookie.

_Is he my new bunk mate? _She thought.

She noticed an odd looking gun slung across his back, it looked a lot like an assault rifle put it had a pump.

The young man turned to face her and nodded, he seemed almost happy at her presence, but instead looked at the door to her quarters-U-571.

Trig smiled weakly as she proceeded to the door, she hit the control panel but it only reverberated a negative tone. So she did the usual routine and kneed the lower right of the door, causing it to slide open. The door was aging and rarely opened with the control panel.

He walked up next to her, looked inside, the room was only about the size of a small bedroom, but it was home away from home to Trig.

The pair looked at each other before he pulled out a card that had both his name and the words-"Ricardo A. Dante "Rookie" Temporary quarters-U-571".

This was the man that had saved them back at Fort Casey? He was about her height and lightly dark-skinned, probably of South or Central American descent with jet black hair and well muscled. He wasn't a tank like Ratzass but he had a six-pack that looked like curved blades instead of blocks, much to Trig's interest.

Perhaps the most unnerving thing was that there were long burn marks across the top of his chest. Not just one, but many.

Rookie waved his arm to let her in first.

As they got inside, Trig began to walk over to her computer panel but turned to face Rookie, who was putting down his strange gun along with his duffel bag. "So you're the guy that wields the flame throwers?" she asked. Rookie nodded without looking at her.

"I never got the chance to thank you for what happened back there, what you did, saving us from those bugs. I'm Tia by the way, Tia Durer, Trig is fine." she said. Rookie stood up and smiled, extending his hand to formally greet her. His golden necklace waving on his neck. He then knelt back down to take out a couple blankets and sheets and lay them on the floor.

Trig immediately said, "Oh you don't have to do that, you can sleep in the bed, besides you're my guest." she said.

Rookie smiled at her but shook his head and to Trig's embarrassment simply lay down on the sheets with his back against the corner of the quarter's walls.

For the first time since she arrived at her quarters he spoke, "Temporary." he said as he lay down. He picked up his gun and began to examine it. Trig found the sudden urge to keep the conversation going. "What type of gun is that?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"M45D shotgun. Heavy canister rounds." he replied. He shifted the gun to a new position, "Incendiary chamber near the mouth sets the rounds on fire as they exit, Dragon's breath." he said as he handed the weapon to her. "Only one of seven in the entire MI."

Trig took the weapon, it was surprisingly light, "You wield this with your flame throwers?" she asked. Rookie nodded, "Throwers have to cool down every now and then, when that happens, I use this."

She raised an eyebrow, "You like fire a lot don't you?"

Rookie shrugged, "Its my worst enemy besides the bugs, when you see your family's workplace explode with blue plasma bug fire, or you nearly get burned to death by a tanker bug target drone, it gets to your head eventually." he said.

Trig noticed that the expression on his face had turn to that of dread, "I'm sorry to hear about your family, if it makes you feel any better my parents went out the same way, I guess you could say you're not alone." That seemed to cheer him up as he nodded in a silent "Thank you."

"Then why do you use flames? I mean, the funnels on your gauntlets." Trig asked.

Rookie looked up at her and they stared deeply into each others eyes before Rookie broke the contact, "Eases the pain." he said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she trailed off.

"It's alright, I don't mind." he replied as he took back the shotgun. His eyes suddenly shifted to Trig's sniper rifle sitting against the foot of the bed. "XM53?" he asked.

Trig smiled as he correctly recognized it, "That's it." she said.

"You must be pretty good with it if you sleep with it." he said.

"I count each bug I kill, homage for my parents-killed by a plasma bug." she replied. She saw the Rookie gulp when she said she counted each kill.

Trig chuckled, "Good thing were both on the same side." That seemed to ease Rookie's anxiety. Again they stared into each other's eyes before Rookie reached into his duffel bag to pull out a pair of boxing gloves, he then got up to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" she asked, Rookie stopped and looked at her and said, "Training."

* * *

Ratzass was walking in the hangar bay with Arcane, who had recently had his arm amputated and replaced with a prosthetic. "I'm telling you man I bet I could punch through a bug with this baby!" he said.

"Ya, when you're gloating that you did, another bug will come up and snap you in half!" replied Ratzass. "Thanks." growled Arcane. The pair were walking until they heard the sound of someone using the punching bag hung up with a crane.

They rounded a corner to see a trooper wearing only shorts bouncing on his toes, hitting the punching bag with precision punches and uppercuts. Ratzass elbowed Arcane and comically mimicked the troopers movements. But Arcane wasn't watching instead he pointed to the trooper and said, "Hey man look at his leg!" he said. Indeed, the long scar that traveled down the back of his left leg was evident for both of them to see.

For a minute they watched him continue to train until Ratzass smiled, "Did I ever tell you that this...kid...got transferred into our unit right before our mission on Fort Casey? Yah, we were smack dab in the middle of it when he got separated from our squad. We thought he was bug chow but then he plays Santa and saves us all. He's the reason Hero didn't go through with the mission, he didn't want any more troopers going down like him."

"Kid?" asked Arcane.

"Yah, he's fucking twenty years old." replied Ratzass.

"What? How the hell did he end up out here?" asked Arcane.

"All I remember is Hero talking to him before we wen't on our mission, I think he knew him before he even got here. Figures, for the twenty minutes we were on the mission, the kid was as silent as a ghost." said Ratzass.

"Whoa." said Arcane. They watched as Rookie took a break and sipped some water from a water bottle. Ratzass again elbowed Arcane and said, "Watch this."

"Hey! Rookie! Remember me?" Ratzass said. Rookie turned around and smiled, "Ratzass, yes I do."

"That was some fancy shit you pulled back at Fort Casey, but that doesn't mean you get to play with the big boy's. Nah man you're still a kid." he said, taunting the Rookie.

Rookie frowned, obviously confused.

"I've been on more missions to Bug hives then you have years living. What makes you think you can be proclaimed a legend cause' you saved us once?" asked Ratzass, circling Rookie.

Arcane noticed that Mech, Blitz, Trig, Shock Jock, Holy Man and Fireman had entered the hangar bay and were watching the pair. Blitz sat down with Mech, "Whose your money on?" he asked. Mech replied, "Ratzass man, look he's a full head taller than him! And twice the muscle! One good punch and Rookie's sleeping with the bugs."

Blitz shook his head, "I don't know man, this kid's quite and about as mysterious as that guy Jenkins. Expect the unknown I always say." Mech simply rolled his eyes.

Rookie said, "You don't want to do this." he said.

"Oh but I do, ya see, I don't want to have to babysit your ass when you're surrounded by bugs and I have to come bust you out. So, I'm gonna lay down the law for you and straighten you out," Ratzass said, "Consider it a greeting card." he finished as he raised his fists.

Rookie was taking off his gloves when Ice Blonde appeared, wearing the leggings of her inner suit but naked on top-only a towel over her neck covered her breasts. For a minute Ratzass was distracted.

"Alright boys and girls here's to the opening fight between our newest members of A-1 team, now, to your corners." said Ice Blonde as she pushed the two men away to opposite corners of the hangar, but they simply moved back towards one another.

Ice Blonde picked up a crow bar, "When I ring the bell...come out fighting." she smiled as she tapped the crow bar against a crate.

Ratzass smiled as he lunged for Rookie, yelling at the same time and threw a punch to the side of Rookie's head.

But Rookie was no longer there, he was to the side of Ratzass. Ratzass stumbled at the fact that he had completely missed, but regained his composure. Rookie simply stared at him with a blank face.

Ratzass, now angrier, lunged with a kick but Rookie spun to his left. Ratzass anticipated this and threw a punch in that direction, But Rookie simply side-stepped the other way he had just spun.

Ratzass realized that he was becoming dizzier, combined with the whoops and cheers that the squad was giving to Rookie, it only made him angrier. He looked at Ice Blonde who rolled her eyes and said, "Rookie, you're gonna have to attack some time, otherwise Ratzass wins by default."

Rookie looked at her and then back at Ratzass, but he remained with his hands at his sides facing Ratzass. Trig noticed he had begun to clench them. _What's he thinking?_ She thought.

Ratzass smiled, "So you think you're fast huh? I'll have you know I ran the 40 yd dash in 4.9 seconds! I'll show you speed!" Ratzass crouched and then got a running start at Rookie.

"This is it, Rookie's out when that punch connects." said Mech.

What happened next caused everyone to gasp.

As Ratzass ran at Rookie, Rookie suddenly changed from a standing position, crouched and brought his elbow directly into Ratzass exposed stomach. Ratz stopped and opened his mouth in a silent scream of pain. It looked like David and Goliath. Rookie simply held his elbow in Ratzass' caved stomach, not even his muscled abs helping Ratzass.

Then Rookie released Ratzass after a couple seconds, who hadn't even moved, he simply stayed in the position he was in last in before Rookie had hit him, incapacitated by the pain. Rookie now stood right in front of him and looked down on him with a face that reminded Trig of the time he had when he had told her about his family.

He simply extended his right index finger and tapped Ratzass' forehead, causing him to fall over and collapse in a heap. For a moment the hangar was silent, and then it erupted with cheers as the squad surrounded Rookie, congratulating him for his effortless victory. Rookie smiled and nodded his head, but he simply parted the crowd and walked over to Ratzass, who was on the ground and groaning in pain.

Rookie knelt down and put Ratzass' arm around his shoulder, helping him up. He looked back at the speechless squad and said, "Leave no man behind." before he proceeded to drag Ratzass to the medical bay, Shock Jock followed him.

The squad looked at each other and began whispering to each other but Mech's voice rose above the rest, "That kid's cray."


	3. Prologue PT3

Nebular-Class_ Corvette Alesia/Course Corrected/Outbound to last known position of John A. Warden_

**February 8th, 2305**

The most tattooed of A-1 squad sat in the briefing room, with his eyes closed. They were waiting for the rest of the A-1 squad to arrive to receive the mission plan for the _John A. Warden_ from Commander Rico himself.

Holy Man was twirling his blade, examining its reflective gaze, he could even see himself in the silver and what was behind him because it was so perfect. He flattened it against his left arm. He was touching one of Daoist symbols on his body when he heard someone speaking behind him. He looked around to see Rookie holding his golden necklace and saying something in Spanish, which Holy Man recognized. **  
**

Even though he was whispering, Holy Man knew what he was saying.

"En el nombre del Padre, y el Hijo, y el Spiruto Santo...Amen." he finished.

Holy Man asked, "Catholic?"

Rookie looked up from his prayer and stared at Holy Man. He nodded.

"Which one should I pray to?" asked Holy Man. Rookie raised an eyebrow in confusion so Holy Man turned to face him, pulling up the sleeves of his inner suit to reveal the many tattoos on his arms, "Which Catholic symbol?" he asked again.

Rookie was amazed by the amount of symbols on his arm, but noticed one in distinct. He got up and walked over to Holy Man, tapping the simple tattoo of a bowel filled with two fish and five loaves of bread. Holy Man smiled and nodded before he turned back around.

Rookie returned to his spot next to Trig as the rest of the squad filed in, then they snapped to salute as Commander Rico's battle-scarred face appeared on the view screen. He began to outline the situation-The _John A. Warden_ was MIA along with Minister of Paranormal Warfare Carl Jenkins. The _Alesia_ was the closest ship to its last known position and that meant no more R&R on Earth.

The entire squad groaned except for Rookie, complete with Blitz asking, "What the fuck?" to which Daugherty replied, "Shut it!"

"I know the crew of the Alesia and the defenders of Fort Casey have all made great sacrifices, believe me I've been there, but the _John A. Warden_ is one of the most important ships in the fleet. I need the troopers to escort captain Ibanez to the bridge and bring its engines back online, and find out the hell happened to the crew." Rico finished. "Any questions?"

Ratzass, who had recovered fully from his fight with Rookie, said, "Yah, I think I speak for everyone when I say this but, we're only going in...if Hero's leading."

Daugherty spoke up, "Major Henry Varro sir."

Rico nodded, "Right...Major Varro...very well, but regardless of the mission outcome it will have no affect on his trial is that understood?"

The entire squad snapped to salute, "SIR, YES SIR!" they replied. "Good, dismissed." said Rico.

Rookie walked with the rest of the squad to the locker room, where they proceeded to get into the armor, but Rookie knew that his armor was special, and that the _Alesia_ was one of the few ships outfitted with the tech to complete the task of putting on his armor.

With the rest of the squad in the main aisle of the locker room, he walked to the back, where he saw a square in the floor outlined with red paint. He silently whispered, "Pass code: The Ninth Plague."

The square outlined by the paint separated itself from the floor and turned itself upside down, revealing two foot placements for his armored boots. He placed his feet in them and suddenly, the locker room came alive.

Trig watched two of the mechanical arms slap on his chest armor and fuse it together with screws and bolts. Then he spread his arms and legs as smaller arms put on the camouflaged arm and leg pieces. The entire team watched as this utter and bizarre armor process unfolded in front of them. They then saw four minor arms come down and connect the tubes and flame funnels to his wrists. The small black tubes traveled up his arms and to his back, where a large arm put two canisters in his backpack. Suddenly, the twin red lights flickered on in the tubes and began to race up and down his arms again.

Finally, a large arm brought his helmet down on his head and connected it to the suit's neck. The process was finished.

"I've never seen an armor modification like that. In fact, I never knew the _Alesia_ had those things in the ceiling and floor." said Mech.

"All Federation ships have them for troopers with talents in fields other than assault rifles. You people can exit your armor with a couple buttons, I'm never getting out of this unless there is a Federation ship around." said Rookie through his helmet's COM amplifiers.

At that, the squad nodded in appreciation for his talent, and continued to lock on their armor.

Rookie sat down to load his shotgun when Ratzass appeared next to him, Rookie braced himself for the worst.

Instead Ratzass smiled, "You've got talent Rookie, you may not be as experienced as the rest of us, but I've got to say, you sure showed me." he said.

Rookie smiled weakly behind his helmet. "I just want to know if we're straight, and if you've got my back." he said, extending his hand. Rookie looked at it for a moment before he clasped it with his own, "For sure."

Ratzass smiled and started finishing up his own gear. Rookie looked back as he examined his funnels, tanks at 100% capacity fired up. He got up and walked over to Trig, who had gotten all of her armor on except her helmet. Rookie asked her, "If it ever looks like I'm about to bite it, promise me that you'll put two rounds in my back." Trig looked at him and blinked.

"Two rounds should be plenty to create a spontaneous reaction in the tanks that will consume everything in a fifty foot perimeter." he said. Trig still looked at him before she looked down, she noticed Rookie's shotgun on the bench and picked it up, handing it to him.

"Make _me_ a promise, don't die." she said with a serious face. Rookie looked at his shotgun before he nodded and left.

* * *

"Oxygen levels at critical levels, life-support in need of emergency back-up power." said Chow as A-Team and Captain Ibanez walked through the airlock to the _John A. Warden_. The ship had been located in the Hasar Nebula and was described as ghost status, no communications, no power, and no beacons. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Rookie flew through the airlock in zero gravity at the head of A-Team. Only when he reached the side of the _John A. Warden _did he turn on the magnets in his boots. Instantly, everyone but Captain Ibanez began walking into the corridor that ran along the _John A. Warden_'s port side.

"Alright, we're splitting up, Chow, Mech, Rookie, Blitz, Fireman, Ratzass and Holy Man follow me to the engine room, the rest of you escort the captain to the bridge." said Hero, "Lock and load ladies and gentlemen."

Rookie nodded to Trig who returned the gesture. They were about a hundreds down the corridor when they noticed blood floating in the vacuum, soon the bodies that they once belonged to floated into view.

There was no need to explain, with limbs and half of bodies missing, there was no question that the bugs did this.

"Hero to Daugherty, we've got dead crew and troopers here." said Varro.

"_Confirmed Commander, same thing here in the bridge. Captain is going to try and restart artificial gravity and life support._" came the voice through Varro's COMS.

They were almost to the blast door to the engine room when Daugherty voice came alive again, "_Prepare yourself, gravity and life support coming back online in 3...2...1."_

As if by cue, the bodies and blood around them dropped to the floor.

And so too did the bodies and limbs of dead bugs, one limb actually hit Chow in the head, scaring him nearly to death.

"Uh...Commander? I'm picking up one heartbeat signature-friendly...Uh...that way." pointed Blitz in the direction behind the main engine columns. "Alright, Blitz on me, lets find the poor bastard, the rest of you? Stay here and guard Chow while he brings the engines back online." said Varro as he disappeared behind the columns with Blitz.

Rookie stood outside the main entrance to the Control room panel of the engine room, Chow set about bringing the engines back up to speed. About five minutes later, his COMS came to life with Varro's crackling voice, "_Don't...CSSCSSHCHSCHSSHCSCH...CHOW...CHHSHCSHCHSHCHCSH...ENGINES!_" Rookie was about to ask him to speak up when Chow said, "Bwala!"

Suddenly the lights came back on and the familiar red glow of the engine support columns returned. Rookie was relieved but then he heard the sound of Assault rifle fire and then soon after the explosion of a nuclear grenade.

There was then the gut-twisting sound of a Warrior Bug's battle cry as the bugs appeared on the ceiling and on the catwalks two story's up. "_Fire! Kill em' all!" _came Varro's clear voice.

Rookie needed no more orders as he pulled out his shotgun and fired at the bug that had just dropped from the ceiling, the impact of the heavy rounds sent it flying against the columns.

He heard Daugherty's voice through the COMS, "_This is Daugherty we've got bugs trying to get to us on the bridge! Varro get your team up here now!_"

Soon, more began to pour from the catwalk and surrounding walls. Rookie was back to back with Holy Man near the entrance when he stepped out to fire at a bug that was crawling on the engine columns. Suddenly another leaped at him from the dark walls but Rookie dodged the bug's killing blow, training his shotgun while pumping it on its flying form until it passed overhead and he blew it to pieces.

However he realized in horror that he had left Holy Man's back exposed, it was too late as the bug crawled from around the main engine column and stabbed him through the chest, lifting him off the ground.

Rookie screamed in anger and blew the bug's top jaw off with a point-blank shot. Chow came out of his workplace and took up Holy Man's spot. Rookie quickly knelt by Holy Man, whose vital signs were fading on Rookie's HUD. Holy Man, propped up against the column, tapped his forehead with his two fingers and then tapped Rookie's before he went limp.

Chow yelled, "Hey Rookie! I could use some help!" he said as he shot at a bug coming down the stairs of the catwalk. Rookie gritted his teeth but got up to rejoin the firefight. The bugs were too spread out to use the flame throwers effectively, making Rookie even angrier.

Suddenly Varro appeared from the stairs to Rookie's right, yelling, "Fall back to the bridge!" Blitz was not with him.

Rookie began to back pedal towards the engine room blast door when a he saw a bug coming at him from the corner of his eye, jaws open ready to snap Rookie. However, it never got there as Chow came out of nowhere to kick the bug, the force multiplying circuits in his armor sending it to the ground and giving Ratzass a chance to finish it off.

"Come on!" yelled Varro as he poured steel bullets at the oncoming bug wall. Suddenly, a bug dropped from the ceiling, crushing Fireman under its legs and lunged at Chow's exposed back.

Rookie ran forward and blasted the bug on its side, sending it flying against the stairs. However, another bug jumped up from behind the wall and landed right in front of Chow, doing an uppercut through his chest.

Rookie was too late to fire at Ratzass' assailant as Mech grabbed his shoulder, "Come on man we gotta get outta here." Rookie saw the bug fling Chow's body against the walls and scream a taunting tone at Rookie as he retreated.

The group consisting of Mech, Hero, Ratzass, and Rookie ran back to the bridge as quickly as they could, still pursued by bugs. When they got there, they helped the rest of A-Team finish off the bugs trying to access the bridge. For now, it was quiet.

"What the hell is going on? We turn on the engine's and all hell breaks loose!" said Daugherty, slamming his fist against a bridge computer panel. Rookie looked back at Varro, who said, "When we were down there, we picked up a heartbeat signature, turned out that Jenkins had locked himself up behind a glass door, something's wrong with him, he was hysterical. Rambling on about how he hacked her so she hacked him."

Captain Ibanez shot out of her seat, "Carl's alive? And you're just now telling me this?" Varro angrily replied, "Listen ma'am if you want a full debriefing I'm all for it." Ibanez shook her head and paced around the bridge, "He hacked her...so she hacked him..." Then she snapped back to look at the rest of A-1 team, "There's a Queen bug in the engine room, Carl would only talk about a "she" if its her. Its the only telepathic bug in their species and now..." she said walking over to her command seat. She tried to access the computer panel but it returned with a red "ACCESS DENIED." She turned to Varro, "She has control of the ship."

"A bug can control the ship? What kind of shit is this?" asked Ratzass.

"The Queen bug is extremely smart and telepathic, she's hooked up to the main engine column which means she's hacked most of the ship's systems.

Suddenly, the computer panel lit up, "WEAPON'S READY, FIRING ON ENEMY SHIP." It said, Ibanez immediately knew, "She's got control of the ship's weapons! The _Alesia_!"

It was too late, they looked out the windows to see the _John A. Warden_'s heavy pulse cannons blast the _Alesia_, destroying it. Then, they felt the ship shudder as the main engines fired, moving the ship out from its idle position.

"Where does she think she's going?" asked Varro.

"I've still got control of some systems, calculating her course and she's heading for...the Orion Wormhole." she trailed off.

The team looked out the windows to see a small purple and black dot in the distance. The Orion Wormhole was a swirling vortex of purple and black energy, allowing instantaneous travel to wherever its exit portal was in the galaxy.

It just so happens that the exit was a near Earth in the Sol System.

"She's trying to get to Earth." said Varro. At that, the entire team turned to look at their commanding officers, Earth would be totally unprepared for the infested _John A. Warden_'s arrival.

Ibanez tried to access long range communications, "This is captain Ibanez to the L-6 base, I repeat this is Captain Ibanez to the L-6 base. Do you read me Johnny Rico?" she yelled, but to no avail.

While the team argued and Captain Ibanez yelled into the COMS in vain, Rookie's blood was beginning to boil. Chow and Holy Man were dead because of him, and he had yet to tell any when that there was a large and bloody hole in his side from a Warrior's bug's swipe in the engine room, he already injected the last of the Rumble Drugs he had been given by Carl Jenkins at Fort Casey. Now was the last time to use it.

Rookie took his shotgun off his back filled it to capacity, putting extra rounds around his belt from an ammo box. He also grabbed an assault rifle off the ground and magnetized it to his back, making sure his tanks were full and he had plenty of ammo, he sneaked out of the bridge, he was running down the corridor and had just past the only blast door on the way to the engine room when the rest of the squad reached the intersection.

Varro yelled, "Rookie! What do you think you're doing?"

"Engine room sir."

"That's suicide!" yelled Ice Blonde.

"Holy Man and Chow are dead because of me."

"Rookie, now's not the time to do anything stupid!" yelled Varro as Rookie reached for the blast door control panel.

"Negative sir, I have the Queen." he said. He could hear all the voices of A-1 team protesting with him but the Rumble drugs were beginning to drone out all of the things his mind didn't want to hear.

"Good luck sir." He said as he punched the control panel, destroying it and causing the blast door to begin to close rapidly. Rookie immediately saw Trig begin to run, trying to beat the blast door so Rookie simply walked over to it and aimed his shotgun at her from behind the door, pumping it once and producing the ominous sound.

Trig screeched to a halt and watched in horror as Rookie's form began to disappear behind the doors. She then screamed, "You're breaking your promise you son of a bitch!"

Rookie didn't hesitate at the harsh words and when the doors had finally closed he shut off all communications to the rest of the squad. He turned around and made his way to the engine room. Nothing else mattered now, all that mattered was that he burned this disgusting menace to a crisp before she reached the home of humanity.

Along the way he encountered a few straggling warrior bugs but he had sighted them long before they had seen him and pelted them with his assault rifle fire, better to save the shotgun and flame throwers for the Queen.

Suddenly, near the engine room, he froze, or rather he couldn't move, he was still alive but he automatically knew what was happening, _The ship is going through the wormhole_. Just as quickly as the sensation appeared, it passed, and that mean't they were now in the Sol system on their way to Earth.

He had to hurry.

He began to encounter more bug resistance until he got to an intersection and about twenty yards away to the left was the embodiment of his fears.

A plasma grenadier bug. The quadra-legged bug had a massive balloon at the top of its body where it fired blue plasma bombs, controlled by a curved snout on the bottom. He immediately hid behind the wall. The bug had not seen him yet and if he was lucky it would pass him by. Soon the floor began to shake with its approaching signature and entered the intersection. As it passed, Rookie began to sneak around the corner to go back the way it had come, when he stepped on the fragile limb of a dead warrior bug. The sound was loud enough to alert the giant plasma bug and it began to turn around.

Rookie took off into a run, the plasma bugs couldn't fire on the run and had to slow down, which, by the sound of it, was not in the bug's thoughts. No, it was too eager to blast Rookie at point blank range. Suddenly, he saw another plasma bug around the bend turn to face Rookie, the blue luminescent light blossoming in its sacks as it prepared to fire. Rookie could also tell that the one behind him had caught up with him and was preparing to fire as well.

He continued to run at the bug in front of him until the balloon burned bright blue. At that moment, he dove to his left as both bugs fired at him with no time to correct themselves. The plasma bombs flew past harmlessly, and hit the opposing bugs, obliterating them.

Passing by the remains of the giant bug, he saw the familiar opening to the engine room. But he knew he could not enter there, it was too easy for the bugs to see him. He activated Sneak Mode for his footsteps and crept to the right to walk up a catwalk that led to the second level of the engine room.

When he actually entered the engine room, he saw perhaps the ugliest bug he'd ever seen-The Queen.

She looked like a deformed sunflower with three triangular sets of mandibles and tentacles sitting on a giant air sack, which Rookie knew was hard at work producing more bugs. Surprisingly there were only a few warrior and plasma bugs around. The rest must be hunting for his squad.

Suddenly, the ship shook violently and continued to do so, causing the Queen to roar. _We must be entering the atmosphere. That means the L-6 base didn't destroy us! Damn it! _He thought.

He walked into the circular rotunda of the engine room that surrounded the main engine column, which led directly to the main engines. The Queen bug seemed to be moving around as she sat on the column. Ugh, he really needed to rid the universe of this disgusting creation.

With his assault rifle in one hand and a raised flame thrower in the other, he aimed at the Queen's production sacks, they looked the most fleshy and vulnerable. He fired.

The rounds tore through the air and punctured the sacks while the flames licked at the Queen's heavily armored body. She screamed in both pain and anger as she raised her skinny tentacles. Rookie continued firing until he saw the sacks begin to leak orange fluid and her carapace crack with black burns.

Suddenly, a tentacle lashed out and knocked his assault rifle out of his hands, clattering to the catwalk. Three more tentacles lashed out and grabbed his hands and feet, immobilizing. Horrified, Rookie tried with his increased strength to pull away, but the Queen was simply too strong. The tentacles lifted him into the air and brought him slowly to face the Queen.

She really was an ugly bitch.

The Queen screamed at him, to which Rookie payed no attention, the Rumble drugs drowning out everything. He saw a long impaler tentacle emerge from her mouth and position itself in front of his head, she was keen on decapitating him, so be it, quick and easy. He closed his eyes.

Just then, a sound rose above all else.

The sound of an XM53 sniper rifle firing.

_Trig_

A shot pierced the air and hit the impaler tentacle, blowing it in half, another shot severed the tentacles holding his right arm and leg, he simply used his free hand to burn the other two tentacles away, dropping him twenty feet to the ground below.

The warrior and plasma bugs were in the far corridor and were now racing to kill Rookie, but Rookie knew this ship better than them. There was a small exit door at the back of the rotunda, to small for any warrior or plasma bug to fit through, he immediately ran around the main engine column, pouring fire into the Queen's sacks. The bugs were closing in so he simply increased his speed and lowered his shoulder, bursting through and busting down the door.

The door was at an intersection and he looked in all directions-nothing.

Then he heard the sound of the XM53 firing again. This time much closer

_Trig was in trouble!_

She risked her life to save him, God knows how she got past the blast door but Rookie was not about to let her join Chow and Holy Man. The sound was coming from the corridor on the right so he immediately ran as fast as he could in that direction. He felt as if he was running at a thousand miles an hour. The darkness began to clear as he saw Trig wearing only her inner suit firing at bugs coming from both directions.

There were three in front of him so blasted past two of them and went after the lead one. He jumped up into the air, front flipped, and came down hard on the bug's head. The sheer force of the drop drove the bug into the ground, crushing it in the most familiar way.

Trig looked at him, eyes wide but Rookie payed no attention to her, he had a friend to save. He ran to Trig as she crouched below him. Spreading his arms-he let loose. The flames emerged once more from his wrists, enveloping the bugs coming from both directions.

Trig looked up at her savior, the heat from his flame throwers was making her sweat, he constantly looked back and forth to make sure both directions were covered in flame. He only stopped when he saw no more bugs.

He looked down at her and she looked at him, neither speaking when suddenly Captain Ibanez's voice sounded in her earpiece, "_Brace for impact!_"

Trig's eyes widened and Rookie saw this, he lunged for her and enveloped her in his arms, a split second later the ship shook violently like they were the center of an earthquake. The tumbled through the air like rag dolls for about fifteen seconds until the _John A. Warden_ finished its crash landing near Paris, France. The two troopers were lying against a dead bug propped up against a wall, good thing Rookie had magnetized himself to the wall or else they would have been crushed by the pile of dead bugs at the end of the corridor.

Trig released herself from Rookie's embrace and got up. She shouted in disgust as she smeared green bug blood off of her, "Listen, let me explain...ROOKIE!" she screamed as she turned around.

Rookie was breathing very heavily with the clear sign of a rasping voice. The claw of the dead bug they had been thrown against had actually impaled him under his shoulder, he now had two heavy wounds.

She crouched near him and held his shoulders, "Rookie? Rookie!" she cried.

Rookie took a gasp of air before he reached behind his back and slowly pulled the limb of the dead bug out of him. When he had finished, he got up and stood up to full height. "Rumble drugs." he gasped.

Trig was about to protest when she heard a voice in her ear, "_Trig where are you?_" It was Captain Ibanez.

"I'm in the port corridor, Rookie's with me." she said.

"_Roger that, proceed to airlock Y-8, the last shuttle is there. We're on our way as well._" came Ice Blonde's voice.

"Where's Varro?" she replied.

"_Daugherty and Ratzass are down, I'm with the captain now."_ replied Ice Blonde as the transmission ended.

She looked at Rookie, who seem to be in no pain from the wounds inflicted upon him said, "Come on!" she yelled at Rookie as the familiar cry of warrior bugs sounded from the right, there would be no going back they way he came to the engine room.

Trig took off running in the opposite direction with Rookie close behind her.

When they finally reached the Y-8 airlock, they found Ice Blonde and Captain Ibanez firing at a few straggling bugs, which Rookie and Trig helped them with. Then, more started to appear from directly down the corridor right in front of them. Rookie checked himself, no assault rifle and he was out of shotgun ammo, his tanks were at 28% capacity.

_Damn._ He thought. _So close_.

Then suddenly a familiar voice sounded in everyone's COMS, "_GET DOWN!" _Rookie dove to his left as the airlock behind them blasted open, revealing a large and shadowy figure in its place.

A Marauder Mk. II. Piloted by none other than Commander Rico. The battlesuit spun its gattling cannons, easily mowing down the incoming bugs. The canopy opened up vertically to reveal the commander as its pilot. He said, "I've got a drop ship inbound, where's Varro?" he asked.

"_On my way to the engine room_ _sir_." came the reply. Varro was listening in the whole time.

"What do you plan on doing?" asked Ibanez.

"They've destroyed the nukes were inbound, that means there's only one thing left to do, detonate the drive columns, that'll blow this ship sky high. Prevent the Queen from escaping." he said. Trig said, "With what? Mech's down and he had our only explosives." Rookie looked at Rico and tapped the funnels on his wrists, the flame throwers would have to melt through the columns to unleash their energy.

"What? No Rookie! You almost got yourself killed the first time!" said Trig. Rookie replied, "So did you."

However, Rookie simply climbed onto the Marauder as its powerful jets began to fire and said, "Sorry," before they fired and Marauder took off down the corridor. Along the way, Rico used the suit's chainsaw to buzz through any bugs after his gattling cannon ran out of ammo.

When they reached the engine room, they saw Varro on the second story catwalk. Surprisingly, Carl Jenkins was behind the blast door and firing a pistol to no avail at the bugs.

Varro had his left arm torn off and a bug threw him down to the main ground. Warrior bugs surrounded him, but he pulled out a grenade, saying, "Good luck sir!" before it detonated, consuming the bugs around him.

"Go trooper! I'll cover you!" said Rico as he began to engage the bugs surrounding the queen, which had begun to scream at the new threat.

Rookie ran over to the first column he saw on his left, raised his wrists and fired point-blank at the columns. The cones of fire licked at the metal encasing the columns, warming it red hot.

But it wasn't enough. Rookie checked his tanks, 22%.

_Just enough_. He thought as he triggered the tanks supercharge feature, taking power from the suit to give the flames even more power. The flames weren't even red anymore, they were the color of the blue plasma from the bugs.

He saw the metal begin to crack and melt as the incinerating flames continued to pour directly onto the column. Suddenly, the flowing energy that had been contained in the drive column rushed out of the column via the large hole Rookie had make in it. The electricity-like sparks traveled up and down the column, causing the engine room to blare a warning sound.

Rookie turned to see Rico jump out of his heavily damaged Marauder and saw it explode, putting distance between them and the nearest bugs. He ran over to Rookie and Jenkins as the floor shook, the column Rookie had melted was becoming increasingly unstable.

Jenkins said, "We have 10 minutes before the drives tear themselves apart and destroy everything!" he said.

"Dropships' been destroyed by the Queen, no more escape shuttles. How do we escape?" asked Rico.

Jenkins smiled, "We'll just use my personal shuttle that I used to board the _John A. Warden._" he said to which Rico immediately began to yell in his earpiece for the remaining squad to meet them at Jenkins' airlock.

Suddenly there was a cry and looked back into the engine room, warrior bugs were running after them.

Rookie said, "Go sirs, I'll cover you." he said.

Rico looked at him before saying, "Good luck trooper."

Jenkins smiled and nodded at Rookie before he took off after Rico. Rookie whipped around to face the incoming bugs. 5% left in his tanks, enough for about 2 minutes. The drives would detonate in five.

Rookie raised his wrists for the last time-pouring fire into the oncoming bugs, now forced to squeeze themselves through the engine room entrance. He began to back peddle to an intersection as bugs began to break through the fiery wall.

Then, a voice sounded not in his COMS, but in his head, _GO RIGHT._

Unsure of what to do, Rookie took off running in the direction the voice wanted him to go, he did not recognize the voice, but it did sound familiar. Right about now he was ready to believe in anything.

He reached another intersection and the voice sounded again, _GO THROUGH THE DOOR ON THE LEFT._

There was a door on the far wall, Rookie wasn't familiar enough with the _John A. Warden _to know where it led, but he was listening to a voice in his head, what next. Rookie ran full speed and busted down the door with a lowered shoulder. He got up and looked around. It was the hangar bay, and the blast door to the outside was wide open. He could see the mountains surrounding Paris in the distance.

But what really caught his eye was the many Pitbull all-terrain vehicles lining the walls.

* * *

Trig, Ice Blonde, and Ibanez had reached Jenkins' shuttle first and were blasting away bugs that tried to get near. The ship was beginning to shake more violently as the drive column that Rookie had damaged was beginning to affect the others.

Trig had just killed a bug to her right when she saw Rico and Jenkins running at them from directly ahead, there were many bugs behind them.

And no Rookie. Trig fought back the urge to curse Rookie as she aimed down her scope and fired at the bugs behind the Commander and Jenkins. Ice Blonde and Ibanez retreated into the shuttle as Trig kept firing. When they were close enough, Trig and the two men leaped into the shuttle as Ibanez shut the door behind them and punched the ignition button.

The box-like shuttle shot out of its airlock and began to fly.

"Where's Rookie?" asked Trig.

"He stayed behind." replied Rico as he strapped himself in.

Trig strapped herself in and closed her eyes while gritting her teeth, "Goddamn you Rookie...Goddamn you, you son of a bitch, you broke your promise." she whispered. She looked up to see Jenkins sitting near the doorway, and he was smiling at the opposite wall.

Suddenly, they felt a massive shock wave behind them as the _John A. Warden_'s drive columns detonated, producing even more explosions as they reached the ship's laser core supply batteries-and they began to tear the crashed ship apart.

The shock wave tossed the shuttle around as Ibanez said, "Brace for impact!" she said as the shuttle shook before it crashed to the ground some 500 yards away from the ship.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Ibanez when the shuttle had stopped running into the ground. Everyone was. Ibanez popped open the rear door so they could get out. They filed out of the crashed shuttle and realized they were on a ridge overlooking a flattened area of the valley where the ship had crashed.

The ship was on the verge of crashing into Paris when Trig had saved Rookie from being killed by the Queen. She had also shot some cord connecting the Queen to the ship's interface, giving Captain Ibanez just enough time to lift the ship up and over the city.

They looked at the burning wreckage of the once great ship. More secondary explosions began to take place within the ruined ship.

Ice Blonde tapped her ear, "Rookie respond. Rookie come in." she said.

Only static greeted her.

"Rookie if you're alive answer me." she said.

Again only static answered her. She lowered her head as she was forced to face the reality. Trig simply looked out at the wreckage and sighed, there would be no more Rookie type saves for her ever again.

She really wished she had known him better.

Rico stepped up behind them and said, "Who was this Rookie?" he asked.

Trig murmured, "The craziest trooper you've ever met." as another dropship descended from the sky.


	4. The Next Man to Die

**Now begins the original parts-probably go for 15-19 chapters? Maybe less. Chapters will now go for about 2,000 words or more, shorter than PT.3 but still fairly large. To be updated every weekend or week depending on my other fanfics. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE STORY AND REVIEW!**

* * *

**Outside of Paris, France**

**February 9th, 2305**

Pierre LaPadite sat at the kitchen table of his home, watching the FedNet on his holotablet. A veteran of the first bug war, he had happily retired as a dairy farmer to France with his wife Alicia, also former Mobile Infantry. They had been there at the disastrous First Battle of Klendathu, the infamous, "100,000 dead in 1 hour." Pierre's unit had miraculously emerged unscathed and when his required two years of service for citizenship was up, he went out with full military benefits.

The FedNet was describing how the war was going in the outer-colonies. However, 95% of it was propaganda or recruitment videos. Pierre saw right through the FedNet's almost comical videos so he laughed to himself.

He wondered what his children would join when they were old enough.

Shaking his head, he continued to sip some milk while watching the FedNet, when his wife came in. He got up to kiss her before she went back to making dinner for him and his three other children.

"Did you hear? There's a proposal going through the congress on whether to allow citizenship as a birthright." said Alicia while mixing something in a bowl. Pierre smiled and shook his head, "Even if it did, it would be limited somehow."

The video changed to something about the Federation ship that had crashed not to far away from here, of course, the FedNet didn't tell him anything, only sky footage of the burning wreckage. He rolled his eyes at the information, he could care less unless it hit anywhere near his farm.

The footage was shifting to that of a bystander in Paris watching as the massive ship flew overhead, when his youngest daughter, Francis, came through the doorway to the backyard.

"Papa, Papa! There's a big green giant in a big car out in the side of the road!" she squealed.

Pierre looked at his daughter before looking back at Alicia, who rolled her eyes with amusement. Motioning for Pierre to discover the source of Francis' distress. "Alright well the big green monster will be no match for papa now will he?" asked Pierre.

Francis was shivering, but she hugged her teddy bear and nodded.

Pierre got up and called for Jacques, his eldest son at 12 years old. He went outside to find Jacques already holding his father's double-barreled shotgun another rifle in his hand. Though the weapons were ancient, Pierre knew they would easily handle any human aggressor.

The background was surrounded by tall grass and it was the only way to get to the back road which Francis had been talking about. Jacques said, "Father, what do you think she means?"

"I don't know Jacques, but were going to find out." replied Pierre as he loaded the shotgun and slung it over his shoulder. He had taught Jacques from an early age how to protect the family should anything happen to Pierre and so far, he was showing no fear.

The sun was beginning to set as Pierre and Jacques walked through the tall grass. When they finally reached the end of the tall grass, Pierre stepped into the dirt that was in the shoulder of the road. It was a two lane road with one lane going in each direction.

And Pierre immediately saw what Francis had been talking about. He would have recognized the vehicle anywhere.

On the other side of the road was a Federation Mobile Infantry all-terrain vehicle, or Pitbull. It looked like a giant buggy with an open top and from the looks of it, its driver had driven off the road and stopped in the dirt.

"Ready your rifle Jacques." said Pierre. They looked both ways before crossing the road and ran over to the vehicle-its engines were turned off and Pierre saw the second part of what Francis was talking about.

A Federation trooper in full power armor.

He was slumped over the wheel and looked dead, but Pierre could see that his body was rising and falling. Checking his watch, he saw it was 5:14 p.m., the sun was beginning to be eclipsed by the horizon.

"Jacques, stay here and wait until I call you." said Pierre. He rounded the front of the vehicle, keeping his eyes on the body of the trooper as it rose and fell. As he got closer, he could hear the sound of his breathing and it was very raspy.

He got to the drivers side and saw that the seat and the floor were stained with blood. He also saw that the trooper had a gash in his side and a large hole in his upper left chest.

"Trooper! Trooper!" said Pierre.

The trooper did not move.

"Hey! You're Federation aren't you?" he asked again.

This time, the trooper moved his helmet to the left to look directly at Pierre, there was a loud gulp when the trooper spoke, "Yes..." his voice trailed off.

"What are you doing here?" asked Pierre.

The trooper gasped suddenly before slowly raising his hand to point behind him, in the direction of the still burning flames from the crashed ship.

Pierre instantly knew, "You...came from that ship?" he asked.

The trooper didn't reply, instead just bringing his arm back down to his side. He still sat there, blood leaking from his wounds. Thinking quickly, Pierre said, "Jacques, go warn your mother." he said.

Jacques stood still and looked at the trooper then at Pierre.

"Now Jacques!"

Jacques nodded feverishly before crossing the street and diving into the tall grass back towards the LaPadite house. Pierre approached the Pitbull and noticed the trooper didn't not carry a weapon, curiously, he had two small funnels on each of his wrists.

"Trooper, I want to help you, but I cannot carry your weight alone, you must help yourself." said Pierre.

The trooper didn't move. Then Pierre said, "Do you want to live forever trooper?"

That seemed to trigger something in the trooper as he slowly moved his legs and arms out of the driver's seat. Pierre rushed forward to catch the trooper as he nearly fell out of the driver's side. The armored suit was extremely heavy but luckily the trooper used some of what strength he had left to lift himself. In full armor, the trooper was much taller than Pierre.

"We'll go to my house, we'll phone the nearest Federation Base from there." he said as the trooper wrapped his left arm around Pierre's neck while Pierre wrapped his right around the troopers ribs.

The trooper coughed at the contact and Pierre heard the sickening sound of blood coming out of his mouth, even though he couldn't see it behind his helmet, he must get to his house quickly or the trooper won't make it.

As they began to cross the road, Pierre heard the trooper rasp, "...Why..." he asked.

Pierre continued to walk with trooper across the street and said, "Former MI, its what I do." The trooper said nothing the entire time as they walked through the tall grass. When they reached the edge of the LaPadite's backyard, he saw Alicia standing in the doorway with her apron on. She clasped her hands over her mouth at the sight of the trooper and ran down to take up supporting the trooper's other side.

"Jacques! Get your sisters to their rooms!" yelled Pierre as he heard Jacques shepard his sisters upstairs.

They climbed up the back stairs and entered the house near the kitchen. The moment they stepped inside, the troopers legs gave out and begun to drag his feet across the floor, so the couple set him down on the floor, he would go no further. They heard him groan in pain and his breathing become faster.

"Trooper, you must retract your helmet if we are to help you." said Alicia.

The trooper's head rolled back as his helmet retracted. Pierre raised an eyebrow-the trooper was young, dark-skinned and barely in his twenties with blood covering his mouth and sweat precipitating down his head. His eyes were barely upon as he focused on the couple trying to help him.

Alicia put two large towels in the opening to his armor in an effort to stop the bleeding. "You get the Federation on the line, I'll stay with him." said Alicia. Pierre nodded as he picked up his holo tablet, dialing the number of the nearest Federation Support Desk.

The holo tablet screen reorganized itself to show a Federation officer in full uniform on the other side. "Hello, my name is Ensign Williams of the Paris Federation Support De-

Before he could finish Pierre spoke, "Listen, I really don't care who you are. My family and I have come across a heavily wounded Federation trooper who I believe is from the ship that crashed yesterday. He needs immediate medical attention!"

The Ensign seemed surprised but smiled, "I'm sorry sir but there were only five confirmed survivors from the crash and-

Pierre again cut the Ensign off by flipping the tablet around so he could see the trooper lying on the ground while Alicia wiped the blood from his face. "See?" he asked when he flipped the tablet back.

"Oh my God! What have I done? I'm sorry sir truly I am, I'll contact Federation Air Medical, they should be there within fifteen minutes. Marking your location." he said as the ensign's face disappeared and the tablet reverted back to its home screen.

He looked back at his wife, still trying to step the flow of blood from the trooper's mouth and his two wounds. They dragged him until they propped him up against the wall.

"He's has a punctured lung, he won't last long without proper attention." said Alicia. The trooper's eye lids were opening and shutting, like he was phasing in an out of reality. Pierre did the only thing he knew he could do, he clasped the trooper's hand, causing him to look at Pierre.

"Tell me what's worth fighting for to you." he asked, if he could get the trooper to talk, that might spike is energy just enough to keep him alive. The trooper's eyes shut and he gritted his bloody teeth and let out a scream of pain.

Pierre flinched but asked again, "You're pain is temporary, tell me, what to you is worth fighting?" he asked. The trooper let out a gasp as his breathing picked up, the wounds were becoming more painful.

Suddenly he spoke, "Humanity."

"That's what your fighting for? Humanity? Not the Federation?" asked Pierre.

"...Yes."

"Then you have not yet begun to fight." said Pierre. The trooper turned his head to look at Pierre, at first he thought the trooper might die right then and there but he actually smiled.

"Yes."

Pierre looked up at the sound of an approaching aircraft, he guessed correctly that it was the medical dropship that the bumbling Ensign had called for. The dropship's four vertical engines came down to help it land just outside the backyard. The front bay doors opened and he saw two men in white suits along with a couple troopers come rushing up to the house.

"Where is he?" asked one of the medics.

Pierre led them inside, where the medics immediately began tending to his wounds. When they touched the bloody holes, the trooper's voice choked and Pierre could tell that the punctured lung was affecting him greatly.

"Goose, Playboy, give us a hand here." said one of the medics as two of the fully armored troopers entered the house and helped the trooper up-dragging him outside and into the dropship.

Then, one of the troopers that wasn't carrying the wounded trooper turned to Pierre and said, "Thank you, you've done something very noble tonight."

Pierre and Alicia smiled, they both lifted up their right sleeves, revealing the trademark Mobile Infantry tattoo, "Its what we do." said Pierre. The trooper looked at them and saluted them before he ran back to join his squad. A few seconds later, the dropship took off into the night.

Alicia held Pierre's hand and said, "What are we going to tell the kids?" Pierre smiled and kissed her, "The big green monster saved us from the bogeyman."

* * *

**Federation Base, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii**

_**Four Days later...**_

Trig and Ice Blonde were happy to be on R&R, but the pang that they were the last surviving members of A-1 team still haunted them-Daugherty, Ratzass, Mech, Varro, Holy Man, Chow...Rookie...all of them...gone.

Ice Blonde's daughter went to school here, living with Ice Blonde's mother while she was on duty. Trig too had a place here, usually they would have get-togethers with the entire squad at someone's house but this would be the first time she would spend her R&R relatively alone.

They sat in their inner suits in the office of the Mobile Infantry's starship division HQ. It was here where they would be transferred to their next squad.

Major Felicia Agular was reading their files, "Well believe me I'm sorry for your loss, I've lost troops before but never at a rate that you two have experienced, it seems that with the ongoing conflicts with the bugs on the outer colonies, other teams are beginning to share the same fate. The likely hood of placing you on a corvette with surviving troopers from other squads is high."

"What do you mean ma'am?" asked Ice Blonde.

"I've already put together a list of squad mates that are the last of their former teams, I think it would be very awkward to transfer you into a unit at full strength. Therefore I'll save you that embarrassment out of honor for what your team did in Paris." she said as she sat back down at her desk. "They're all here at Fort Terry, so the best idea is to-"

Before she could finish, a phone tone sounded in the room as she picked up her holo tablet. "Excuse me for a moment." said the Major. She got up to take the call by tapping her ear piece and retreated to the corner of the room.

Ice Blonde leaned over to Trig, "What do you think?"

"I don't know, I've been with A-1 team since I joined MI and every now and then we'd lose somebody but not like this." replied Trig.

"I feel ya, but at least everybody's meeting everyone else for the first time, who knows, maybe it'll be just like A-1 all over again." said Ice Blonde.

"Now that's comforting." smiled Trig.

Ice Blonde winked, and then they heard the Major say loudly, "What do mean? That can't be possible there was only five confirmed...He's here?" The two women raised their eyebrows as the Major continued talking to the person on the other line.

Trig said, "So what do you plan on doing for your R&R?" she asked.

Ice Blonde smiled, "Spend time with my daughter, lay flowers at James' grave, ya know-to keep up morale." she said.

"Of course." replied Trig. She sighed, there would be none of that for her.

"Hey, you can come over any time you like." said Ice Blonde, making Trig smile.

The Major had finished her call and sat down while rubbing her forehead and sighing, "The things you hear out of medical...I'm just MI divisions! Anyway, the docs downstairs say they've read your files on A-1 team and they require your presence immediately, level G-4 is where intensive care is." she said, "Dismissed."

The two women awkwardly snapped to salute but nevertheless left the office and headed in the direction of the medical bay.

"Whats this all about?" asked Trig.

"Dunno."

They made their way to the elevator where Ice Blonde pushed the level for intensive care was. What could a doctor in Intensive Care want with them? This was the last thing Trig had expected to happen while on R&R. The elevator descended into the underground base until it reached its destination. When the doors opened, they saw lines of beds and hallways filled with men and women of MI lying in cots, some of them missing limbs.

An African-American male doctor walked up to them, "PFC Tia Durer and Sgt. Helena Bell?" he asked.

"That's us." replied Ice Blonde, rarely called by her real name outside of her family.

"Follow me." he said as he turned around, leading them down a hallway, sometimes talking to fellow doctors along the way. He stopped at a door and said, "Wait in there, I'll be right back." he said as he ran off.

Trig had a confused look on her face as Ice Blonde rolled her eyes. The room looked like that of a child's physician's room, but it looked like it was just for check ups.

"This world just keeps getting weirder and weirder." said Trig, shaking her head.

They looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw the doctor return, instead of coming in, he waved someone in from behind the wall. Both women nearly died as they watched who came through the door.

Lance Corporal Ricardo Alvarez Dante a.k.a Rookie walked wearing only Federation basketball shorts and his dog tags. He also had white wrapping gauze taped around his ribs. There was a large hole near the top of his left shoulder, now just a large scar.

For a moment there was utter silence before he smiled and said "Back from the dead."

Trig shot up and whipped out her hand, punching Rookie across the face as hard as she could, causing him to stumble and grab a cart to keep himself from falling over.

"Trig!" said Ice Blonde with a shocked voice. Trig showed no sign of remorse however but waited until Rookie had recovered, "That's for nearly breaking your promise." she said.

Rookie nodded, "Guess I deserved that."

Ice Blonde got up and shook Rookie's hand, "Just how in the world did you survive?" Rookie smiled and told them all about commandeering a Pitbull and how he was found by the French family, he was then airlifted here for intensive care.

He looked at Trig, who had begun to smile, "You can't be mad at me forever." he said. Trig smiled and clasped his hand in a firm shake.

The three remaining members of A-1 squadron looked at each other, "What now?" asked Rookie, to which Ice Blonde said by throwing her arms around the two of them, "Now, we honor the dead and drink till' we join them!" she laughed. Trig and Rookie smiled and the three wrapped their arms around each other, "Here's to the dead...AND TO THE NEXT MAN TO DIE!" they said in unison.


	5. It Burns

**Special thanks to TANATOSU for recognizing a mistake, its been corrected! On another note, you may wonder why so many female OC characters will appear. This is actually canonical because the United Citizen's Federation's citizenship offer (More rights, better pay etc.) is not a birthright and must be earned through service through Fleet, MI, or Naval Intelligence. That means there will be alot of people from both genders joining up.**

* * *

**Luna, Fort Mason**

**March 20th, 2305**

**3:07 Earth PST**

Trig and Ice Blonde sat in the locker room of the _Solarus, _a corvette similar to that of the late _Alesia _but more heavily armored and armed, designed specifically to take hits from planetary defense plasma bugs.

This was where they were supposed to meet the reformed squad comprised of other last survivors of other squads. Major Aguilar had renamed the squad E-5 in addition to the fact that Trig had been promoted to Corporal. Ice Blonde was also rumored to be second in command to a Lieutenant now.

Soon men and women began filing into the room, no doubt afraid or intimidated to talk to anyone. Finally a woman who just appeared to have the stature of a lieutenant walked in, one noticeable feature about her was that she had pink hair.

"Alright boys and girls lets not be shy now, can't have that be happening within a squad, which one of you is Ice Blonde?" she asked.

"I am ma'am." said Ice Blonde as she stood up to salute her.

"At ease, so you're my second in command? Good its nice to have you. If you haven't read the roster yet my name is Lt. L.Z. Breanne, I'm not gonna spell out my name because its a mouthful, so you can just call me Breanne. I will begin to read off the names of all essential personal. For those of you who aren't called don't worry you're not entirely useless." she laughed.

The locker room erupted in laughs and chuckles.

"Demolitions...Ziggs."

"Here."

"Equipment...Tank."

"Present."

"Heavy weapons...Riot."

"Yep."

"Sniper...Trig."

"Here."

"Medic...Doc"

"Present."

"Recon...30k."

"Humph."

"Right...ok...and last but not least Crowd Control...Rookie."

Unlike the five other special squad members that had responded to Breanne's roll call, there was no answer from Rookie. And to Trig's frustration, she noticed he wasn't even in the room.

"Rookie? Helloooo. Anyone here by the name of Rookie?" asked Breanne as the rest of the squad began whispering to each other and giving each other confused looks. Just then, there was the sound of a door opening and slamming from the back of the room and the sound of running footsteps. No suprise, Rookie came running around the corner to the aisle that sat E-5. He carried a duffel bag and Trig noticed he was shoving something down into the bag and zipping it up. Whatever it was, it was taking up alot of space.

She also noticed many of the females' eyes widen when they saw him.

"And you must be Rookie, where the hell where you?" asked Breanne.

Rookie shook his head and said, "Captain."

"Whatever, at least you're here now. I'll now read the rest of the roster-" said Breanne.

**PFC Rachel Darlu-F (Queen)**

**PFC Darius Smith-M (Purp)**

**PFC Miles Delaney-M (Muzzle)**

**PFC Nikolai Belenski-M (Russo)**

**PFC Sarah Fortune-F (Misses)**

**PFC Austin Trarch-F (Sci-Fi)**

**PFC Anton Rofel-M (Joker)**

**CPL Alonso Gonzalez-M (Roman)**

**CPL Kelly Jones-F (Mave)**

**CPL Parisa James-F (Chief)**

**SGT Talia Bergundy-F (Ghost)**

"Alright boys and girls welcome to E-5. For those of you that arrived late, let me reintroduce my self, I'm 1st Lt. Breanne and this is my second in command, Sgt. Bell or Ice Blonde."

She continued, "You know what has happened to your former squads and I'm not going to bother going through with the sadness and agony. We've still got a war going on. After A-1 squad's efforts near Paris, the bugs seem to be turning tail and heading back to Klendathu."

"Its most unusual really, Klendathu is near the outermost arm of Milky Way and we've got a long way to go. They aren't budging on the world they've invaded however but thats left them without any chance of escape. The Leviathan bugs have already left the space around P-571, 642, and 482. So that means we'll be headed to one of them in the next couple of days to support the fleet."

"Until then ladies and gentlemen, I suggest you get to know you're squad, some of them might save your ass someday. Is that understood?" she asked.

"Sir, yes sir!" nineteen other voices responded.

"Good, dismissed."

While Ice Blonde move to discuss matters with Breanne, Trig walked over to Rookie and asked, "What was that all about?" she asked. However Rookie narrowed his eyes at her and shrugged, walking out of the locker room with the rest of the squad. Rolling her eyes, Trig followed him out the door.

The rest of the squad seemed to be heading for the rec room but Trig noticed Rookie stop at the rec room entrance and wait for everyone to go by before heading to his quarters, ones he shared with Trig. She was tempted to follow him, but she decided that she knew enough about Rookie for the time being and enjoyed what time she had left meeting her new squad.

When she got back to the room later that night she found Rookie already fast asleep in the top bunk. She wondered, _why the sudden change of mood_?

She shook her head as she too found the abyss of sub-conciousness.

* * *

**April 2nd, 2305: _Hyperion-_Class Corvette (Solarus)**

**In orbit around Inner Colony Resort World P-571 w/Corvette's _Cesar Chavez _and _Queen Elizabeth_**

The rest of the Federation's 6th Fleet had already arrived and was in orbirt of the beautiful planet, now that the bugs had invaded it, it was as if some continents were on fire from Talon fighter-bomber glassing.

E-5 Squad sat in the troop bay of the _Ox_-Class dropship, a small ship with four vertical-take off engines and a cockpit. The entire ship was built around the bay. As the bay door closed, the entire squad heard in their COMS, "_Sorry I'll be late to the party boys and girls, I'm currently getting intel from Command about a little detour we'll be taking from our primary mission after we provide enough support to the troopers already there. Once we get the go ahead, we'll commence on our detour-when that happens, I will join you, until then, you're in command Ice Blonde, Breanne out._"

Trig raised her eyebrows inside her helmet, the last detour she knew of that a squad had taken had happened at Fort Casey and with the _John A. Warden_, and had resulted in the deaths of nearly all of A-1 squad.

Around her, other squadmates were discussing the information they had just recieved. What was this little detour? Trig looked up to see PFC Sarah Fortune staring back at her, the two woman nodded at each other. Trig looked down the bay-30k was making adjustments to the camoflague net around his armor. Russo was talking to Roman about his family's Vodka business, and Purp and Muzzle were playing rock/paper/scissors to see who would have to buy drinks in the afterlife.

She looked even furthur, but she couldn't see Rookie among the seats of troopers, _was he even on the Ox? _Then, she saw him, or what she thought was him-at the far end of the ship nearest to the cockpit sat a trooper obscured by the lack of lighting near it. Trig could tell it was him by the red, laser pointer-like dots that seemed to travel up and down in the darkness. They were the lights that ran along the tubes of his flame throwers on his wrists.

_Typical_, she spat. He was just being a casual loner, unwilling to socialize and remaining quiet the entire time, how long did he expect to keep this up?

Other troopers had begun to notice this too, pointing to him and pointing him out to others. Then, Misses broke the silence, "Hey Sarge, what's with Rookie?" she asked Ghost who sat next to her.

"You got me." she replied.

"He don't say much." said Misses.

"Never does."

That seemed to give Misses an idea, "Hey, check this out." she said, leaning out of her seat and looking at Rookie's obscured form, "Hey! Tough guy! What's with the loner crap?" The insult seemed unfazing as Rookie simply sat in his seat, only his legs and obscured upper body visible, the red lights still traveling up and down his arms and to his back.

Misses continued, "Why don't ya come back here and sit with the real troopers?" she laughed. Some troopers laughed along with her, but Trig's heart lurched when she saw's Rookie's tapping foot stop.

Rookie emerged from the darkness at the front of the troop bay, looking straight at Misses. The entire squad, even the grumpy 30k leaned out of their seats to see Rookie. The tubes that connected the funnels to his back were now more attached to his armor instead of the loosely held version Trig had seen before. His armor darker than usual and the large fuel canisters on his back were replaced with smaller slabs on his back. He also had a red polarized view plate.

_A new armor version? Who does Rookie associate himself with? _Trig thought.

Not a second later, small flames quickly started themselves at the end of the funnels on Rookie's wrists, causing most of the squad to jump, including Misses. However Rookie turned them off a second later and again lay back-obscured in his seat.

Muzzle said, "Good one."

"Shut up." replied Misses.

The dropship lurched as it dropped vertically out of the _Solarus_' hangar bay. The pilot twisted the ship around so that it too traveled towards P-571 with dropships from the _Ceasar Chavez _and _Queen Elizabeth_.

"This is Echo 514 on approach vector to Sword Base frontline, wingmen Echo 515 and 513 inbound." said the Pilot of E-5's dropship.

"_Copy that Echo 514, the bugs are getting restless and are pushing forward with plasma artillery, get here quick. Over." _replied Sword Base's COMS officer.

"_What a gentlemen, he didn't even say please." _said Echo 515.

"_This is serious boys, sounds like they've gotten themselves in a real ruckus. Keep your eyes peeled, its way too quiet up hear." _said Echo 514 as the trio of dropships broke off from the main group and traveled through the thick fog of New Haven airspace.

Suddenly, Echo 514's radar came to life, two contacts directly ahead and closing fast. "We've got kamikazes inbound, stay on course." said Echo 514. Fleet's name for the airbourne bugs was "Hopper". Because they were much too slow to keep up with any Federation aircraft, they had taken to sacraficing themselves by flying into fighters and ships or hoped to be sucked into an engine.

The three dropships scattered as the green warrior-like bugs with wings flew past them, schreeching as they missed by a mile. Another pack of five hoppers closed in from above, managing to get above Echo 513 and dive on the ship from above. The sheer kinetic force of the bugs impact cleanly took off an engine.

"_I'm hit! Power reduced to 67%! I can't hold her steady!"_ cried the pilot.

_"Captain! There's too many of them!" _said Echo 515.

"_Damn right, alright boys put em down on Saggio Hills, troopers can disembard and dispatch the bastards from there." _Saggio Hills were small land formations overlooking New Haven, however, it would put the troopers in between the bugs attacking Sword Base and New Haven.

"_But Captain, we'll be surrounded!" _said Echo 515.

_"Unless you wanna get shot down by a plasma bug I suggest you land on those hills!" _roared Echo 514.

"_Fuck that_." said Echo 515 as he veered his dropship away and into the fog.

"_Damn you Lieutenant! Get back here! That's an order!" _replied Echo 514, but Echo 515 was gone, and so was Echo 513. Suddenly, a hopper emerged from the fog and dove head on at Echo 514. The captain saw him just in time as he dove the ship downward to evade, however the hopper did manage to thump itself against the roof of the ship, shaking it violently.

Cursing, Echo 514 leveled the buckling ship out as Saggio Hills came into view. They looked like the only piece of nature untouched by the blood of humans and bugs, grassy and peaceful with the wind flowing.

The dropship's engines flared as it came in for a landing, Echo 514 spoke to the troopers, "_Both my wingmen are MIA and I've got bugs everywhere. I don't plan on sticking around much longer so don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out, good luck." _He said as the bay door opened, allowing sunlight in and illuminating everything in the troop bay.

"Let's roll!" said Ice Blonde as she happened to look back at Rookie. He was tightening his funnels and pumping his shotgun when he looked up at her.

* * *

The squad was running across the grassy hills towards the battle for Sword Base. The Federation air base was situated on the other side of a giant lake and from the reports they were getting, the bugs had a giant Leviathan bug supporting them. The Leviathan was their transport through the vacuum of space, but could also be used as a heavy support air unit.

30k had already gone ahead to scout the area so no warrior bugs or hoppers would suprise them on the way there.

"I could really go for an APC right about now." said Russo, nearly out of breath.

"Quit your whining Russo, that's why you went to Bootcamp! Not down Vodka for the rest of your life!" barked Ghost.

"Stay away from my Vodka!" cried Russo, but their conversation did little to affect the rest of the squad, they trudged on through the grass until they came upon 30k's position. He was lying down in the grass and gestured for everyone to do the same. Instantly everyone dropped below the tall grass and watched as a squadron of hoppers flew overhead, screeching as they headed for Sword Base on the otherside of the lake.

Sword Base looked like a small formation in the rocks inside the giant crater. From their position, they could see the base, but what they were really focused on was the Leviathan bug floating over the lake. It looked like a giant balloon with a small head in the front and many tentacles emerged from its lower body. It kept dropping warrior, hopper and plasma grenadier bugs almost consistently from its underside.

"Why the hell hasn't fleet blasted this bastard out of the sky?" asked Purp.

"Fleet's busy engaging others in high orbit, they haven't had time to get a bead on this one." replied Ice Blonde.

"All clear." said 30k as he stood up.

"Its about 8 miles to the otherside of the lake and Sword Base, by the time we get there we'll be exhausted and of no use Sergeant." said Ghost.

"Right, that means its time to see if Sword Base as any options open to us. _Sword Base this is Ice Blonde of E-5 squad, we're about 8 miles out and are in no condition to get there on foot, got anything for us to use?_" she asked.

There was static over the COMS until a voice replied, "_E-5? Boy are we glad to hear your voices, all our APC's are down, the only option is either the high speed drone boats at the dock near your position or the aging dropship in its hangar. I'm sorry but that's all I've got for you. Whatever you do, get here quick! We need you guys!_" Then the COMS cut to static once more.

Ice Blonde looked over the edge of the hills, luckily, someone had already blazed a trail down to the docks, where she could clearly see a large hangar and five of the fast attack drone boats sitting in the water.

"E-5 lets move! Get down to the docks on the double!" yelled Ice Blonde. The squad moved through the hills and then crossed onto the rocky mountain side. 30k was on point when he heard rocks tumble to the northwest.

"Hoppers!" he roared and bared his high powered MK14D rifle, a single shot rifle designed to blast bugs back and keep them there. The entire squad took cover behind the rocks as three hoppers emerged from the rocks and landed down the trail, roaring at the squad above them.

Trig stepped into the trail aimed her rifle downwards until the crosshairs fell onto the lead hopper. With the pull of the trigger, she sent .50 caliber round slicing through the air as cleanly took the top jaw of the hopper off, it fell to the ground and took to rolling in pain.

The squad handled the other hopper easily, but the last one went into a frenzy and leaped in Trig's direction. She was preparing to leap out of the way when Rookie quickly emerged from his hiding place and grabbed the wing of the hopper as it passed by. The hopper turned to impale the human that had grapped it but Rookie jumped up with near super-human reflexes and landed on its back.

He proceeded to break its delicate wings and crush its spine under his boots and punches, sending blood across the rocks. Only when it stopped crying did he stop. The entire squad looked at him, wondering why the hell he did such a thing when he said, "Weaker than warrior's. No need to waste ammo."

Ghost looked at Ice Blonde who shrugged, "I wouldn't stop him." she said as she followed the rest of the squad down to the docks.

When they got there, Tank and Muzzle set about reactivating the gun boats while the rest of the squad hurried inside. Sure enough, there was a dropship in the hangar, and it looked like it was in shotty condition.

"What a piece of junk!" said Misses.

"If we try and go on those boats, we'll get torn to pieces." said Chief to Ice Blonde. Ice Blonde nodded as she realized the magnitude of what they were going to do. She said into her COMS, "_Tank, Muzzle-get those boats up to speed and load them ammo._" she said.

"What's the plan Sarge?" asked Mave.

"We're going to use the boats as a distraction while we take this POS around the otherside of the lake. Its the only way." she said. She realized the entire squad was looking at her, "Well? What are you waiting for? Get on that ship and get it operational!" she barked.

The squad stubbornly set about slapping on armor plates to the ship and starting up its engines. About ten minutes later, the squad filed into the dropship as Tank fired up the engines-they stoutly resisted for a couple seconds until they finally ignited.

"I've only got about a month's pilot training before I switched to MI, but I'll see if we can't get us over there." said Roman as he sat in the pilot's seat and closed the door to the cockpit.

"Tank, program those boats to get to the east side of the lake and cause a ruckus. We need them to delay the bugs as long as possible." she said.

Tank nodded as he remotely controlled the five dagger like boats to head in the direction of a rock formation in the lake. A minute after they left, Roman yelled, "Hang on!" as he shoved the controls forward and the dropship burst through the wooden hangar door.

"Stop for no one!" yelled Ice Blonde as she hung onto a railing.

"_You bet your ass Sarge!_" yelled Roman as he shoved the throttle forward and the dropship flew to the otherside of the lake.

"Tank! How is our distraction coming?" asked Ice Blonde.

"Good, they're getting swarmed by hoppers and are firing non-stop." replied Tank as he looked at his computer pad.

"Let's keep it that way." said Ice Blonde as she gripped the railing more firmly as the dropship recklessly tumbled through the air. They were about half way there when Roman yelled, _"Engines 1 and 3 are out! I've only got 46% power and falling! I'll get us as close I can!_" he yelled through the COMS.

Ice Blonde could feel that the ship was falling out of the air but sat firmly in her seat and gripped the railing like a madman.

"_Brace for impact!_" yelled Roman.

A couple seconds later, the dropship hit the ground on Sword Base's west runway, driving itself nose first into the ground until it came to a stop two-hundred feet later. Ice Blonde shook herself awake from the sheer force of the impact as she grabbed her assault rifle.

"Anyone hurt? Everybody okay?" asked Ice Blonde as the squad began to Rookie and Tank kicked down the the troop bay door. She walked over to the cockpit, "Hey Roman lets-

She stopped. Their make-shift pilot was slumped over the controls, dirt pouring into the cockpit as small fires began to burst from the overloaded electronics.

He was dead from the impact, his vital signs flatlining.

_Damn_. Thought Ice Blonde.

She whipped around and joined the squad outside, "Where's Roman?" asked Russo.

"Dead, and we will be too if we don't take cover in Sword Base." said Ice Blonde, "Move out E-5! We've got troopers to reinforce." she said as she took point. The squad formed a sort of circular perimeter as they ran up the runway.

Along the way they ran into a couple of straggling hoppers and warriors but they were easily subdued. When they finally reached Sword Base, they found troopers fighting bugs both inside and outside of the main building.

"Clear out the inside before we go out!" yelled Ice Blonde.

Over the next ten minutes, the now reinforced troopers began to clear out warrior bugs that had managed to sneak inside the building. When they finally got outside, they formed a defensive perimeter with the remaining troopers. 124 troopers against hundreds more bugs? The odds weren't exactly favorable.

When Ice Blonde picked off a warrior that had been running towards her, she heard her COMS crackle, "_Sword Base, this is Talon Squadron lead, bug Leviathans in orbit are retreating, Fleet is now standing by to take the shot."_

"_Copy that Talon actual, you are cleared to engage._" replied Commander Barns, the leader of Sword Base's defense.

Ice Blonde heard the roaring of powerful engines above her as she watched two F-76 Thunderbolt TAC starfighters streaked overhead, trailing the retreating Leviathan-which had turned tail and was trying to escape to New Haven. However the F-76's soon broke off their targeting run as a massive red laser cannon round from the battlecruiser _King Henry VIII _broke through the cloud cover and punched a hole in the Leviathan. The massive bug roared, which shook the walls of the mountains around them.

The Leviathan lost its ability to fly as volcanoes of bug blood emerged from its top and bottom. It crashed into the lake and proceeded to drown all of its thousands of occupants.

Immediately the entire base erupted in cheers as they watched the lake turn green with bug blood. Ice Blonde saluted to the TAC fighters as they flew back into the atmosphere, when the cheering stopped she headed back into the lobby of Sword Base.

The lobby was now a make shift infirmary, as she saw more than 50% of the defending troopers there-some were missing limbs, and almost all were screaming in pain. Through all the cheers and celebrations, this was what she had to return to.

She felt a presence next to her and realized it was Rookie, his helmet still on and viewscreen polarized. Ice Blonde turned to him and said, "You need to stop playing hero and let teamwork kill more bugs than your bare hands." she smiled.

Rookie nodded in compliance.

Ghost walked up to the pair and said, "Sergeant, you've been requested in the CIC room. Commander Barnes and the rest of the squad leads are already there." the brunette said.

She nodded to Rookie as she took off in the direction of Sword's base command center. When she got there, she saw Commander Barnes and seven other Lieutenants and Sergeants talking.

"Ah Ice Blonde its good to have you." smiled Commander Barnes as he shook Ice Blonde's hand, "I must say your arrival was right on time, things were getting pretty dire here until you showed up." he said.

Ice Blonde nodded and said, "I'm just glad we shot that fat bastard out of the sky."

Lt. O'Donnell spoke up, "Fleet must have turned the tide up in space, until then they could never get a clean shot at the Leviathan down here. It had been assaulting the base for the bast hour."

"I thought the bugs were holed up in New Haven, why risk there forces out here?" asked Ice Blonde.

Commander Barnes suddenly narrowed his eyes, he looked uneasily at the other officers but said, "Believe me Sgt. if I knew I would tell you, the Ministry is keeping us in the dark most of the time. In fact, a spook was here right before the Leviathan assaulted-said that he was looking for something, but beyond that I have no damn clue."

Ice Blonde understood that the Ministry of Paranormal Warfare was as spooky as its name suggested. Whatever they were after, she was happy that they would now retrieve it unhindered.

"But hey, why talk about this? You've pulled off a successful rescue and hold mission! First rounds on me!" he laughed.

* * *

_**Later that Night...**_

The rec room was alive with the sounds of drunkedness and laughter, mostly in the name of E-5 squadron and their late pilot, Roman.

Rookie sat in an arm chair watching the FedNet covering the battle in space. Fleet had downed five Leviathans to two corvettes and a troop transport. The Leviathan had openings in its carapace from which plasma grenadier bugs could safely fire without being exposed to the vacuum. Its massive tentacles reaching out and slamming into ships.

"Ugly balloons aren't they?" asked a lovely voice behind him.

He turned around to see Trig sit on the arm with two drinks in her hands, she offered one to Rookie but he shook his head, "Uncle died of alcohol poisoning, I will not go the same way."

Trig raised an eyebrow and then narrowed them, "You mean to tell me you've never taken a sip of alcohol in your life?" she asked, bewildered.

Rookie narrowed his eyes as well, "Yes."

Their conversation was picked up by Russo, who strode over to Rookie, "If you're going to take you're first drink, at least let it be Belenski Pure Vodka-the taste will stay with you even in death!" he laughed.

Realizing others were gathering around him, Rookie frantically stood up, "Uh...no thanks." however, he backed up directly into the burly Tank, who held Rookie's arms and smiled, "Everyone's gotta be initiated sometime Rook."

Rookie tried frantically to break free but Trig walked right up to him, poking his gut and said, "Would you like to know more?"

Because Rookie was so entranced by Trig, Russo snook up and grabbed Rookie's jaw, forcing it open and downing a shot glass of Vodka down his throat. Rookie's senses went wild, and he felt himself feel lightheaded..._Am I drunk?_ he thought.

Suddenly, a voice resounded in his head, _**NO, YOU'RE NOT EVEN** **CLOSE**_.

Snapping himself awake from his dizziness, he saw most of the troopers looking at him, Trig was smiling and Russo asked, "Well? How did it feel?"

Rookie shook his head once more and smiled, "Never again."

The troopers erupted in laughs and cheers before they all went back to their business. Rookie continued to laugh until he everyone was gone. He immediately dropped his funny expression and hurried out of the rec room, unaware that Trig had grown concerned and was following him.

He ran to the quarters that he would be staying for the next couple days and flew to its shower. A few minutes later, he gasped as he felt the cold water turn warm and flow down his dark skin. Looking directly at the wall in front of him, he thought, _What in the hell is going on? _He had heard a voice in his head back at the _John A. Warden_, but this one seemed different, more feminine. Shaking his head, he deduced it as a hallucination from his first experience with alcohol.

He happened to look to his left and see Trig standing there completely naked. Rookie gasped in complete terror and nearly slipped on the floor of the shower. Trig laughed at his predicament and said, "What? You've never showered with the opposite gender before?" she asked.

Indeed, the bathroom had another showerhead for the rooms maximum two occupants, the other one was the one Trig took up behind Rookie.

"What?" asked Rookie.

"You must be more inexperienced than I thought." Trig chuckled.

"I'd never had a woman in my squad until Fort Casey." he replied.

"Well that explains it." Trig said.

Rookie finished grooming himself and stepped out of the bathroom, much to Trig's despair. He was eager to get out of this nightmarish evening and when he put on his shorts he sat down on his bed and rubbed his face.

What a day.

Trig emerged a couple minutes later with a towel wrapped around her to find Rookie watching FedNet on his tablet, and payed no attention to her. She rolled her eyes and was picking her clothing out of her duffel bag when she noticed something.

Rookie's extra duffel bag.

This was the one he had shown up with when E-5 first came together.

_What could he be trying to hide?_ thought Trig as she looked back at him, still watching FedNet. She reached over to her own bag while reaching towards Rookie's and pulled them both open at the same time, making it look like she had only opened hers.

She nearly fell back when she saw what was in Rookie's bag. Small canisters filled with turqoise liquid that looked like they would fit directly into a trooper's thigh armor.

Rumble drug containers.

"I figured you'd find out some time." said Rookie without looking away from his tablet, he had noticed Trig's espionage almost instantaneously.

"Then why hide it? Why continue to use it?" she asked.

Rookie put down his tablet and got up from his bed and extended to his full height. At best he was only an inch or two taller than Trig. He walked over to her with a serious expression on his face and stopped.

He pointed to the long burn marks across his chest, "Ya see these? These aren't just some burns ya get when you mishandle a match. These are actual tanker bug drone burns. Mars L-49 Bootcamp. It was day 567. Tanker bug simulation day. One guys' helmet was screwed up and we were about to lose our chance at breaking the previous squad's record, or else we would have to run an extra five miles. I shoved him out of the way when a flame burst came his way."

Trig looked at the scars across his chest, her lip trembling, "Then why the Rumble drugs?"

Rookie looked down at the floor before saying, "They're first degree burns, not even the bio-regeneration can cleanly fix stuff like that 100%. They extend deep, towards my lungs and heart. When I tried working out the day after I was cleared to go back I nearly died of internal bleeding.

He walked around the room, "My MI career was on the brink of collapse, I couldn't perform nearly well enough. Any workouts I did for more than an hour brought back as much pain as it did when I first got burned."

"I was going to be discharged when that guy showed up." he said.

"Who?"

"Carl Jenkins."

Trig narrowed her eyes, the Minister of Paranormal Warfare? What was he doing on Mars Bootcamp?

"The day he came he observed while I sat on the bench, and that night he gave me a bag of those." he said pointing to the Rumble Drugs. "He said to take care."

"Then what did he do?" asked Trig.

"He left the next day. And he's been finding me every couple months to give me a bag." said Rookie as he walked back over to her.

Trig suddenly felt an urge and reached out and touched the scars on his chest, he gasped as she felt the unnatural scar tissue that plauged him.

"Oh, Rookie, what have you gotten yourself into?" she muttered.

To her surprise, Rookie grabbed her hands and said, "It was the only way I could stay in MI, these things, when injected, keep the pain away and keep the infected tissue from doing any damage. It only happens when we go into combat. In combat, I am effectively the strongest trooper in the Federation." he said.

Trig asked, "So you don't need them now?"

The question was left out in the air for a while before Rookie looked back at her and they stared at each other. He made the first move and let go of her hands to undo the towel that covered her. Trig gasped as she felt the cold air envelop her but she suddenly felt warm against Rookie's warm chest.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, which he tenderly recieved.

When they broke for air, Trig smiled, "Maybe we should have done this alot sooner."

Rookie nodded and said, "Maybe." before he swept her up in his arms and kissed her again.

"Alright Corporal, you have my permission to take me to bed." she said as Rookie walked with her in his arms.

"Yes ma'am."


	6. Battle of the Bulges

**Sword Base, Planet P-571, Segmentum Solarus System, Sixty miles away from city of New Haven**

**4 days after retaking of Sword Base by E-5 squad...**

* * *

"They're not gonna like it." said Ice Blonde.

"I know they won't, its a high risk mission with the potential to go very right or very wrong depending on whether we all follow through with the plan. Regardless, they're troopers, its what we all signed up for." replied Breanne.

Ice Blonde nodded, Breanne had finally come through with their little "detour" mission, and it wasn't pretty.

The Ministry of Paranormal Warfare was trying to get a psychic teenager off-world but the Leviathans had blockaded everything until Fleet arrived, and it had been hell trying to even move her a centimeter.

Ice Blonde only had to connect the dots to figure out that bugs were sometimes drawn to the psychic auras produced by humans, similar to that of Brain or Queen bugs. Last known intel from ten days ago rumored that she and her escorts were holed up in a subway station twenty miles to the northwest. This would be a simple grab-the-kid-and-get-out if it weren't for the massive bulge in Federation lines.

These bulges littered the map from Sword Base to the Arch Subway station. It would take much too long to travel around them and Fleet was still engaging incoming Leviathans from Bug controlled space-they weren't keen on giving up P-571 so easily compared to other planets.

That meant E-5 and many other squads would have to break through two bulges to get to the station, while cleaning up all traces of their existence.

As E-5 squad began to file into Sword Base's mission briefing room, Breanne counted their heads, and finally after five minutes, there were only missing two.

"That's funny, I could have sworn-

Before Breanne could finish, the back door slid open to reveal Rookie and Trig walking in unusually late, much to the amusement of other squad mates who whistled and hollered at the pair. Trig brushed a bang out of her face while Rookie tripped on the way to his seat.

"Nice of you two to show up on time, anyway, I told you I'd be joining you when I got intel about our little detour before we begin the main assault on New Haven, and I've got it. We've recieved orders from Command to rescue a psychic teenager that the Ministry is drooling over. Naturally I couldn't care less what the Ministry does but it just so happens that we've got bulges in the front lines surrounding New Haven. Two of them block our path to the teen's last known position.

The squad murmured in uneasement.

"I know what you're thinking, why are we going on another suicidal mission? Well its not, we'll be well supported by Preadator tanks and Mastodon APC's. The first bulge contains the nests of Hoppers for the next 100 hundred miles. If we take those out, we'll get reinforcements and possibly even F-76's and Maruaders."

The murmuring turned into ragged cheers.

"But, we must follow through with the plan I've devised, if just one of us slips up, it'll but the whole squad and battalion at risk. We cannot have things happening like with what happened with our former squads. I hope you've gotten to know your squad well boys and girls, We're going into hell feet first."

The squad made ready in the armory, slapping their armor on and grabbing their weapons, and drooled as they watch the armory came to life when it put Rookie's armor on for the first time.

Purp spoke, "Hey Rook, do ever heat up in there, like, sweat your balls off?" he asked. Rookie nodded but tapped his helmet and said, "Cold storage cooling, I sweat and freeze."

Purp's eyes widened as he realized what Rookie dealt with, however, Rookie smiled and said, "but its a cool paradise in here most of the time."

"Seems like alot of work just to put one guy in a single suit." said Queen. Rookie had to admit she was right but answered, "Worth it."

Joker stepped up on the bench next to Rookie, "Just promise not to get too excited and burn _everyone _in sight?" he asked nervously. Rookie nodded his head in compliance but to everyone's suprise he started his funnels suddenly and then shut them off, causing everyone to yelp.

"Ah man, fuck you!" laughed Joker. The laughing continued when suddenly Trig walked by, causing Rookie, Purp, Joker, and even Queen to stop and stare. Trig looked at Rookie and winked as she walked by.

"Ah man, double fuck you!" cried Joker.

* * *

A few hours later, a couple hundred troopers were trugging through the undergrowth Salorius National park, situated to the west of New Haven. According to TAC recon, half of the park was in the first bulge in their way. The troopers would have to clear through to the plains before they could recieve armored support.

"30k, go ahead and scout a perimeter, I need to know the instant you see a single bug." said Breanne. The squad watched as 30k ran along a path before he simply disappeared in an instant among the undergrowth. Breanne turned to her squad and layed out a map on the grass that showed Salorisu national park and its adjacent plains.

"Alright E-5 listen up, when we reach the front lines, form a firing line with the rest of the troopers. I want Rookie and Riot up front, Tank I want you to lace the perimeter with explosives that 30k will scout for us. After that ladies and gentlemen, its just point and shoot. Do you get me?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" the team replied.

"Good, now wait here until 30k-

"I'm back." replied the shadowy man as he appeared behind Breanne.

"Well...that was quick. Report." stammered Breanne

"Hoppers have their nests all across the plains, trenches run deep through them as well. They are being patrolled by warriors and drones."

"Damn, drones will complicate things." growled Breanne. Drones were the newest monstrosity to join the bug ranks. They were the smallest of them but were able to fly and fire a sort of biological plasma firearm. They really were flimsy and most of time were used to distract troopers from true threats.

Breanne looked up to see Commander Barnes signaling all troopers to move forward and out of the forest, tactics were almost non-existant here so they would have to meet the bugs head on.

As the troopers began to move out of the forest, they immediately dropped into the trenches made by previous garriosons of troopers here before they had been overrun, now Hopper bugs made their nests above these trenches.

Trig hugged the treeline and scanned the area through her scope. Many of the hoppers were sleeping and the warriors were walking around aimlessly, she also saw a couple of drones flying from nest to nest.

"Trig to Breanne, no sign of disturbances, they have no idea were here."

"_Good, E-5 keep moving in, we need to get as far in before we surprise the bastards._" said Breanne over the COMS.

Rookie crept through the trenches with his Dragon's Breath shotgun in hand, he trained in front of him until he came to a T-intersection. He took a peek to the left and immediately shot back as he saw two warriors creeping his way. They might see him once they passed the intersection.

"Something up?" asked Misses behind him.

Rookie threw up two fingers and directed them like they were walking, causing Misses to understand. They crouched and hugged the left trech wall as the ominous sound of the warrior's claw feet dig into the ground. As they got close, the troopers held their breath...

And watched as the warriors passed by harmlessly, they had gone unnoticed. The troopers were soon joined by others from E-5 and they split up at the intersection-Rookie, Misses, Russo, and Queen one way, while the rest went the other way. The plains where the bugs had nested were surprisingly small in distance, and would make life very easy for Trig and the rest of the snipers hiding at the edge of the forest.

"_Commander Barnes to all troopers, initiate attack on my mark..._"

Rookie tightened his grip on his shotgun.

"_Mark!"_

Much to the surprise of the squadmates that were with him, Rookie hauled himself over the trench wall with only a single arm...

And blasted the sleeping hopper that was in front of him to a bloody and fiery mess.

"_All troopers engage, engage, engage! Kill em' all_" came Breanne's voice. Rookie had his back to Misses as they fired at warrior bugs that had begun to climb out of the trenches. One warrior lunged at Misses dispite the fact it was getting torn apart by steel, she reacted by moving directly into the bug-effectively surprising it and leaving it unable to hit her with hits powerful claws without backing up. Misses simply kicked the bug away and into the trench, were troopers in the trench finished it off.

She turned around to Rookie, who had been watching the whole thing, "Two can play that game Rook." Rookie smiled behind his helmet and the two leaped across the trenches to assault other nests.

They landed at one island and saw a Hopper bug scream at them and reveal four drones under its wings. The drones looked like miniature tanker bugs with stubby wings and a "C" shaped hand with which they fired green plasma at troopers. Though acid based, the plasma need to be concentrated on a single point if it were to do any good against a trooper.

Rookie felt plasma burts splash against his chest armor, and he felt the heat of it. _Time to return the favor_ he thought as he motioned Misses back and magnatized the shotgun to his back. He raised both wrists and let the drones and the hopper have a taste of plasma perdition flames.

When the five bugs had been burnt to a crisp, he turned to Misses and waved his hand in admiration of his work. "Let's play a game, whoever kills the most bugs wins, and the loser has to buy drinks when we get back to _Solarus_. Starting now!" as she ran off in the directioni of another nest.

Rookie was going to enjoy this, as he nodded and immediately turned his flames on a warrior bug that had just turned to notice him, turning him into BBQ bug. But then Rookie heard something he had heard rarely from bugs.

As the flames disintegrated the bug, his jaws shot up and it released a scream, no, a wail of pain, and its cries formed a deep whole in his heart.

It was almost like...

Suddenly he was no longer on New Haven, nor was the date March 24th, 2305.

The date was October 4th, 2303. Mars L-49 Mobile Infantry bootcamp. Day 567 of 730.

Tanker bug simulation day.


	7. Splitting of the Mind

**Sorry for the last chapter being short, just wanted to update the story. Unfornunantly this one is only a little bit longer because school and lacrosse practice are kicking my ass, I promise next chapter will be longer to satisfy your thirst.**

* * *

**October 4th, 2303 (2 years prior to the events on P-571)**

**Mars L-49 Mobile Infantry Boot Camp**

**Day 567 of 730**

Mars had been terraformed nearly sixty years ago. What once was a barren and red wasteland was now the equivalent of an almost thriving planet, it was still very young in its terraforming process and still had violent storms in both poles but overall it was beginning to look like Earth.

Galactic Gas and Electric had been hired by the Federation to bring in Solar power satellites that would direct the sun's energy from afar back down onto the planet, for without them, Mars would not be able to sustain life with its current solar energy intake.

So far, only Federation military and research bases were allowed on the planet. Scientists predicted it would be open for colonization in the next five years.

However, compared to the paradise it might one day become, it was living hell for new recruits. They trained in terrential rain, scorching heat, and freezing tempatures-all to weed out those who might otherwise just be bug chow.

Private Dante wasn't one of those trainees, and he was proving to his observers that he was the ideal trooper. Despite the fact that he wasn't a tank, the incredible thing was that his endurance was unmatched. He always looked out for members of T-9 squad, the makeshift squad he and 19 others had been put in. One day he had even turned down a promotion to squad leader, the only recorded words of his response were-

"I'm not a leader."

It was reported that he preferred Private Benjamin Houtz as squad leader, another man who shared Dante's qualities.

Today T-9 squad was to undergo a live fire exercise on the edge of the base-a massive obstacle course with hills, trenches, sucker punches, laser drones and a new addition to the fray-tanker bug drones. The drones looked like but were about half as big as a normal tanker and moved around the course extremely slowly. To compensate for this, the trainers installed three rotating flame throwing turrets on its head.

Rotating.

The word stuck in Dante's brain like a magnet.

The twenty man squad formed up in rows of four and checked their AR-67 assault rifles for any impurities, there would be no going back on a live fire exercise. Dante, being a star performer in his trainer's eyes, would lead the first group with Private Houtz.

T-9 squad's trainer, Sgt. McKnight, yelled, "Listen up meatbags! You have limited ammo. You will exercise extreme caution on my live fire obstacle course! The squad with the best time at the end of the day won't have to do a five mile Indian run! DO YOU GET ME?" he snapped.

"WE GET YOU SIR!" came the reply from the troopers.

"Houtz! Take em out."

Houtz reached the top of the starting platform and looked back at the squad, "First row on me! Next row in ten seconds!"

Sgt. McKnight's voice thundered in their ears from the far side of the course, "First squad's time was 10-40! I expect you to do better!" he roared.

The clock suspended in the air above the course began to countdown to zero, and when it hit that number, Houtz yelled, "Let's roll!"

Immediately four men and women descended down the obstacle course and were fired upon by dummies wielding laser stunning rifles, one hit from them would lock down their power armor until the end, however, everyone had to cross the finish line and that meant some had to be carried across it.

Private Elise Nores just barely dodged one by spinning around the laser bolt. She proceeded to mow down the dummie as it retreated into its spawning tomb.

"Keep pushing!" yelled Houtz.

Dante had leaped into a trench with Nores when a dummie appeared out of the wall directly in front of them. Before it could bring its rifle to bear, an adrenaline rush hit Dante full on and he shot its rifle out of its hand, neutralizing it.

"Hot damn Dante you need to teach me how to be as fast as you!" cried Nores as she blasted another dummie.

Dante chuckled from behind his helmet as the pair exited the trench.

T-9 squad had little trouble mopping up the rest of the dummies. So far, only two of their squad had been hit and locked down, and they were being carried by the strongest of the squad.

But now came the real test-the tanker drone. It jealously guarded the finish line, slowly shifting its mechanincal legs to move forward and backward.

"Draw the throwers away from the wounded!" cried Houtz as he leveled his rifle at the drone's head. Rookie and Nores were about to level their rifles when Private Beckinridge suddenly dashed in front of them completely undetected.

"What the fuck Beckinridge we almost blew your head off!" snapped Nores.

Beckinridge looked back at them and yelled, "I can't hear you speak up!" he said.

Dante automatically knew something was wrong and put his hand on Beckinridge's shoulder, "What is your major malfunction?" he said over the roar of the battle behind them.

"Its my helmet its all screwed up!" cried Beckinridge as he slapped the side of his head constantly, "HUD's fading in an out and so are COMS!"

"Stay in the trench until you figure out or everyone's across the line!" said Houtz, who was listening to them while firing on the drone.

Beckinridge obeyed as he dove into a foxhole and proceeded to tamper with his helmet.

When the wounded had finally crossed the line, it was only a walk in the park to evade the drone's flamethrowers, as they wouldn't have to worry about any slow personnel.

Their time was 6-59. They were close to beating the 3rd overall record.

When only Dante, Houtz, Nores, Heeps, and Beckinridge remained, they proceeded to juke out the flamethrowers, causing them to fire on a space for three valuable seconds.

Suddenly, Beckinridge leaped out of his foxhole and fired on a turret on the left side of the drone's head. "I think I fixed it!" he said happily.

Dante was about to smile when he turned to look at the drone and watched with horror as the drone's underside flame thrower on its chin was powering up to fire on Beckinridge, who apparently was still having trouble with his COMS and was oblivious to the danger.

"BECKINRIDGE!" he roared, but the man continued to fire on the drone, completely unaware.

Dante broke into a run at Beckinridge, to the protest of Houtz and Nores and slammed into him.

He had hoped to knock them both away but Beckinridge was big and stocky and went to the ground slowly, the force he applied on Beckinridge came back and stopped Dante in his tracks.

The flame thrower fired at point-blank range.

Dante never had any time to react.

The flames rushed at him faster than any laser bolt and struck him in the chest armor, melting the outer couplings and seaping into his inner suit, burning right through and spreading across his chest.

Dante screamed in pain, but it was over in a second.

The flames retreated back to their turret as his vision became bloodshot and then black. As he fell to his knees and onto his face, he saw Nores running towards him.

All he could hear as he blacked out was a terrible scream of pain in his mind.

* * *

**Present Day**

"I don't know Lieutenant, I simply don't know, his vitals and blood pressure check out its just..." said Doc to Breanne.

"Its just what?"

"Nobody's home." he replied ominously as he tapped on Rookie's forehead, Doc had tapped into his armor and overrided his failsafes, causing Rookie's helmet to retract and reveal a young man frozen in time. The young trooper's eyes were staring straight ahead, fixated on the air. His breathing was like a roller coaster-going up and down as time passed, and as it did, he began to sweat and get goosebumps.

"Misses, what did you say happened again?" asked Breanne.

"Not sure Lt., he was roasting a bug and watching it for a second and then all of a sudden BOOM, faceplants the dirt." shrugged Misses.

"Well Doc what would you say?" asked Breanne impatiently.

"I'd say he's in a catatonic state, either that or in shock, the only things I know could bring him out of it are back at Sword Base." replied Doc. Breanne shook her head, "Damn, its gonna be damn hard completeing this mission without crowd control, but we need him at 200% capacity. Put him on the next ship back to Base." said Breanne as she turned and looked at her squad.

All around her, Federation forces were setting up a staging area were Hopper bugs once made their nests. Preadator tanks and APC's were now cleared to be dropped in and even more troopers were arriving.

She looked at her squad, who were sitting in a semicircle a couple of yards-eargerly awaiting news on their squadmate.

"I've got some bad news, and I've got some even more bad news. The bad news is some hoppers managed to escape and now the bugs are reported to be fortifying the next bulge with tankers and warriors, and we're still without air support. The even worse news is Rookie's out of commission, somethings spooked him out of his mind and he's heading back to Sword Base-which means no crowd control for us. Nevertheless we are only one trooper down, if we coordinate this right, we can still get the job done." she said as she walked away to speak with commanding officers.

E-5 groaned in disatisfaction, this mission just got escalted.

Trig slid back her helmet and walked over to Rookie-propped up against the trench wall-his eyes unwavering from the opposite wall. She waved her hand in front of his eyes, but he never budged. "Oh, Rookie." she whispered as she wiped away his sweat, "Come back in one piece." she said before she activated her helmet and watched as two troopers clad in black armor picked up Rookie by his shoulders and dragged him to a waiting dropship.

She watched as the dropship powered up its mighty engines and lifted itself into the sky and away towards Sword Base.

Back aboard the medical dropship, the black troopers seated Rookie near the entrance to the bay doors and strapped him in, for he couldn't even move-it was as if he was trapped inside his own body.

Other troopers with minor injuries and damage to their armor noticed the catatonic Rookie, but otherwise said nothing.

"**This is Big Bet on approach to Sword Base, 30miles out, requesting clearence**" said the pilot. "_Copy Big Bet, clearance granted-be avised heavy fog is settling in twenty five miles from the base, five miles from your current location-proceed with caution." _replied the air traffic controller.

"**Copy, noted.**" said the pilot as he began to fly into the unknow abyss of fog.

Inside the troop bay, the troopers were in high spirits despite the fact that many of them were wounded. A female trooper sitting next to Rookie thought she heard something odd and turned to Rookie. He appeared to be muttering something.

"Dios mio...the horror..." he was saying.

"Oh my god. Ricardo Dante, is that you?" she blurted out, but Rookie continued to mutter things uncontrollably as sweat dropped down his face.

"Dante! Don't you remember? Its me! Elise!" she said excitedly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly one of the troopers in black snapped, "Don't touch him-he's in shock, you'll only make it worse." he said before grasping the upward railing.

"Shock? What the hell happened?" asked Elise, she turned to see the black trooper glaring at her through his face plate so she sat back in her seat and continued to watch Dante with interest.

The pilot of Big Bet was monitoring his radar when suddenly five red dots appeared halfway between the rim and the ship, a siren blaring in his helmet. He flashed the emergency lights in the cockpit and troop bay-commanding the troopers to hang on for dear life.

"**I've got five inbound hoppers on a collision course, prepare for evasive manuevers troopers**." he yelled into the intercom.

"**Sword Base this is Big Bet, I've got five hoppers on me, any chance a TAC is in the area?**" he spoke into his COMS.

"_Affirmative Big Bet, three TAC's are fifteen miles out, ETA to your position, 7 seven minutes." _came the voice on the other end.

"**Tell them to hurry their asses up!**" retored the pilot.

The pilot swung the dropship downward to avoid a hopper coming at him head first, screeching as it went by. Another dove at him from above, barely missing the roof of the dropship and instead being incinerated by the dropship's exhaust.

"**Hang on troopers!**" he yelled as he pulled the ship into a climb again, trying to get above the fog and hopefully out climb the hoppers. Just when the pilot thought he'd won, a sixth red blip appeared on the radar directly above and to the side of them.

The hopper had climbed to gain speed and easily tore through the starboard side engines-cutting them off completely and obliterating itself in the process. An even worse siren sounded in the pilot's helmet as he held the controls to keep the ship from going completely out of control.

"**Were hit! Engine power cut to 17%! Hold onto your hats troopers were going in hard!**" he yelled.

Back in the troop bay, the troopers held themselves with all their strength in their seats as Rookie's rambling became faster paced. "Trig...God...Planet cracker...cleanse the soul." he began to blurt out.

Elise looked at Rookie while struggling to hold herself in place as the dropship descended rapidly.

"Kill em' all."

"**Brace for impact!**" yelled the pilot.

Just before the dropship hit the plains of Helian Jungles at over 60mph, Elise Nores heard Rookie say one more thing before the her head snapped back and hit the seat-knocking her out.

"I have awakened."


	8. Not So Happy Reunion

**This chapter takes place all in the same day, but at different times. I just wanted to get this chapter out ASAP. The next one will probably be out next week.**

* * *

**March 25th, 2305-Somewhere in Helian Jungles, 30 Miles north of Second bulge in Federation lines**

**0112 hrs (1:12 A.M.)**

Sergeant Elise Nores awoke slowly and groggily to the sound of metal being shifted around the troop bay. As her eyes began to adjust to the nigthtime light that flooded in from holes in the ship's hull, she noticed the flickering red emergency lights on the ceiling.

Feeling around, she was relieved that all her limbs were still attached and she didn't feel any excruticating pain except for the throbbing of her skull. She activated the suit's HUD and looked around in horror.

Many troopers as well as the black armored troopers were either slumped over in their seats or lying on the ground, not moving. She growled, _The next bug I see I'm gonna make him scream long and hard_.

She looked at the opposite side of the troop bay and saw a dark armored trooper shifting around metal as well as grabbing shotgun rounds. Elise squinted and noticed twin red lights traveling up each of his arms and to his back, and then back again-they never stopped their cycle.

Elise cleared her throat and said, "Oly Oly Oxen Free", a universal term for troopers when they didn't know who was near them or if they were trying to get the attention of someone.

The trooper responded almost instantaneosly, "Check ID: Rookie E-5", and he continued shifting around the remnants of the troop bay.

_It is him, but, wasn't he in shock? _Thought Elise.

"Rookie, how...what?" she asked as about six other troopers began to shift and awaken from the crash as well.

"Doesn't matter right now." he responded.

"What?"

"Doesn't matter." he said again.

"Rookie, what in the hell is going on?" she asked again as she got up. Rookie suddenly swiveled around, revealing his front side and dark red face plate. "If you'll excuse me, I am scavenging ammo from my dead brothers." he said.

Elise was stunned at her first encounter with Rookie in over two years. The last she had seen him was him walking out Mars L-49 bootcamp with a couple of troopers. She had thought he had quit after...the incident.

"Well excuse me _Lance Corporal_, but my name is Sergeant Elise Nores and I order you to stop what you're doing and look at me." said Elise, knowing she had played the trump card.

Rookie was forced to stop as he turned around and the two former squadmates looked at each other. "Retract your helmet." she said, and Rookie complied as his helmet moved upward to reveal a dark-skinned young man with medium length black hair. He also had the most unnatural frown on his face.

Elise walked up to him, retracting her own helmet to reveal her own white skin and brunette hair. She looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Is it really you?"

Again he answered immediately, "If you are referring to then former Private Ricardo Alvarez Dante a.k.a Rookie service number 7074664-195, then yes, you are correct." he said without the slightest change of expression.

"What's gotten into you? You come aboard this ship a psychological mess and now you're walking and talking like a damn robot, and yet you don't even have the deceny to introduce yourself to a former squadmate?" she demanded, a hint of frustration and anger in her voice.

Rookie looked right back at her and said, "Forgive my...ignorance...Sergeant." He looked over to see the six surviving troopers hobble over to them. "Ah, so you guys survived? Workshop, Warp, Zeke, Master, Soren, and Tali. Its good to see you guys standing after that shakeup." said Elise to the troopers.

"Indeed it is." said Warp as the remnants of Nores' squad gathered around them.

Elise sighed as she heard Rookie once again begin to scavenge ammo, "What do you think you're doing? We've still got to get back to Sword-

"Negative."

"What?" she asked, stuneed.

"Negative, my orders are to proceed to West Hall subway station where a psychic teenager and her escorts are holed up awaiting rescue." he said as he magnetized his shotgun to his back and looked at them.

"We are in no condition to go on a hike 40 damn miles to the station." said Elise.

"Correct, you are not, but _I_ am, my squad is out there, and they will all die if I do not reach them in time. The bugs will be waiting for them." said Rookie as he began to walk away.

"No way Rookie, we're waiting here until rescue comes, and then we'll all go back to the main assault force."

"Negative, would take too much time."

Elise exploded, "Goddamn it Rookie what is the matter with you? I'm giving you an order as a surperior officer to stand down!"

Rookie stopped at the broken entrance to the troop bay and to the shock of Elise and her squad, easily kicked down the massive crumpled bay door, revealing the bright orbs in the sky that were P-571's twin moons.

She heard him sigh before saying, "Whenever I see a world touched by bugs...a world of lush green forests contaminated by tankers...a world of innocence...I really just wanna NUKE THE CRAP OUT OF IT." he growled before he leaped out of the troop bay and into the jungles.

Sgt. Nores was still in shock at what just happened before Tali came up to her and asked, "Did you know that guy Sergeant?" she asked.

"I did...once."

* * *

**30 Miles to the South (1637 hrs) (Approx. 14-16 hrs after Medevac crash in the Helian Jungles.)**

**4:37 p.m.**

Trig growled as she squeezed the trigger of her rifle, sending a single steel slug into the midsection of a warrior bug-throwing it into the ground with a thud. She quickly switched targets and hit another bug as it tried to run around the dead body of its brother.

The battle for the second bulge was not going well.

The second bulge in Federation lines was a massive field of grassy hills known as the Abyssal Hills that looked like they extended for eternity. Only the sight of New Haven 30 miles to the East signaled their end. So far, the bugs were putting up a pretty good fight.

The hills were so random that one could not possible tell what was behind them without moving around them or charging up them. Leaving both parties open to fire and close combat at a moments notice. This was working to the advantage of the bugs, who were holding the line about 2 miles due north with more pouring in.

Trig had situated herself ontop of a hill looking over the front lines, which extended about a mile in each direction. Predator Tanks and APCs were leading the charges, drawing bugs away from vulnerable troopers who then in turn gunned them down.

However, the bugs just kept coming from directly ahead of her-Hoppers, Warriors, and Drones. What unnerved her the most was that they had yet to encounter any tankers. Through her scope, she watched as a Preadator rumbled up a hill, only to be met with a Warrior bug that had been hoping to surprise an unlucky trooper. The Predator fired its main 105mm cannon and evicerated the bug.

Smiling, she saw her own squadron accompanying an APC through a tiny path between two hills. Suddenly, a flight of drones leaped out of hiding from the tall grass on the hills and began to fire their crude biological firearms on the surprised troopers. One trooper was unlucky to get a plasma shot straight to the faceplate and dropped instantly.

Others began to get peppered by the green plasma, but luckily their armor stood up to the fire well compared to the bite of a Warrior or Hopper bug. Soon E-5 and their APC were moving again through the hills.

According to intelligence, West Hall station was 18 miles directly ahead of them, situated in a small city by the name of Canteron. And it was in there, that the last transmission of the psychic teen's escorts was made.

As Trig began to move forward to continue the cover of her squad, her mind began to wonder. She wondered about Rookie and how his treatment was going back at Sword Base. She had known him for a little less then a year know and they had seen more fighting than most recruits get before they get snapped by boot camp or by the jaws of a warrior bug.

She chuckled as she was reminded of when he took her to bed, and despite all of his soothing words, she found out that he had been a virgin. Despite the gentlemen-like nature he had displayed, they both found common ground-the result was one of the greatest nights of her life. To prevent herself from bursting out laughing, she bit down on her tongue. He had fumbled her like a child, but in the end, she saw much much more of this happening between her and Rookie.

"TRIG GODDAMN IT LAY DOWN SOME MOTHERFUCKING FIRE!" roared a voice in her COMS.

"Copy Breanne, point em' out for me." Trig mumbled as she hefted her rifle once more.

"There's a drone 30 yards to the NE, he's ducking behind cover. Careful he's a quick bastard."

"He's gonna be number 562."

Trig trained her rifle and waited until a drone began to peek his ugly head over the tall grass and quickly squeezed off a round, taking number 562 in a violent explosion of green bug blood.

"562." she said.

"Trig move up we're advancing." said Breanne as E-5 hugged the armor of the Mastodon APC. The Mastodon was a very ugly but extremely fast and durable machine. It resembled a clenched fist with its index finger pointed outward. Six wheels powered the troop carrier as its main armanent was a 7.62 mm Minigun nicknamed by most troopers as the "Hammer of Thor."

So far, the squad had only lost Russo to an ambush by warriors. The squad had been saddened by his death but his last words had inspired them, "If I go down I'm taking you all with me!" he had roared before he charged into his assailants with a nuclear grenade.

The squad was now down three good men, and it angered Trig.

She ran to catch up with her squad as it began to charge up a hill, when it reached the top, Trig could see for miles around. All around her the battle for the second bulge raged and in the distance-scattered groups of warriors and drones approached the front lines.

"Where the hell are they all coming from? They've gotta run out of bodies some time right?" asked Riot as he directed the Minigun on the APC.

"Doesn't matter right now! All that matters is that we push them back! Pour it on em' troopers!" yelled Breanne as she sprayed fire into a squad of drones.

"Man if Rookie were here this battle would be over already." replied Queen.

The mention of Rookie's name caused Trig and Queen to look at each other, to which Trig saddly said, "I know, I miss him too, but we can't always rely on him to carry the whole damn offensive and save our asses."

"Not like he already does." said Ziggs as he sent a grenade sailing through the air and blasting apart several warriors twenty yards away from his GD-10 launcher.

"Lt., does Command have any other plan other than holding the line? We are definitely not breaking their lines with all their reinforcements." said Ice Blonde.

"Believe me Ice Blonde I've been waiting for them to answer that question too. Command isn't going to risk sending troopers down bug holes to...That's it!" exclaimed Breanne as she fired her rifle with renewed confidence.

"What is it Lt.?" asked Chief.

"The damn bug holes is what is Chief! Those suckers are coming out of their bugholes behind their own lines, which means they're close! If we can push back the line to those holes, we can collapse them and prevent them from getting out!" Breanne spoke into her COMS.

"_Commander Higgins, I have a suggestion to make about our offensive._" said Breanne as her squad fought around her.

"_Make it quick Lt., the General Hasting getting a little ticked off about how long this is taking._" came the disgruntled voice of Forward Battle Commander Shiela Higgins near the back of the fighting.

"_It has come to my attention that bug reinforcements are not running from miles around just to meet us here. It is highly likely that there are bug holes hidden in the hills just behind their lines, if we can reach them before it gets dark, we can seriously put a dent in their defense._" came Breanne's reply.

"_That's a given Lt., just what do you plan on doing?_" asked Higgins.

"_We reform the battle line Commander-the troopers are getting torn apart up in front. I recommend we have the Preadators and APC's up front. Then we have the Marauders jump jet just beyond enemy lines to sow confusion. Once the two lines meet, we can proceed with a fully organized offensive and find those bug holes._"

"_That's one hell of a gamble Lieutenant, you'll have only a few minutes to reach the Marauders before the bugs overwhelm them. What do you say Roland?_" said Higgins.

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Roland commanded the 501st Marauders Battalion, over three hundred strong and one of the most well trained on Haven's Planetary Defense force. "_Well shit Higgins we've been trying the ordinary for the past six hours and we've only gained a couple hundred yards. I say its time to try the unordinary._" came the man's reply.

_"I like to hear that Roland, alright, switching to all COMS._" said Higgins as she addressed the entire 7th Mobile Infantry Division, "_Listen up troopers, I know you're all tired of not getting anywhere so were about to spring a little surprise on these ugly bastards. Lieutenant Colonel and his Marauders are going to jump jet behind enemy lines to sow confusion and cut off their front line. When they do, I went you all to kick it into overdrive and meet the Marauders at their point. Stop for no one, and remember, kill em' all!_"

Troopers around E-5 raised their rifles in accordance with each other and cried into the afternoon, a symbol of renewed energy in the human offensive.

"_Roland, once you get to within fifty yards of bug lines, I want you jumping three hundred yards ahead and make your stand there. Give em' hell LC._"

"_With pleasure ma'am_."

With a sense of energy in her body, Trig trained her rifle over the front lines of the bugs, now visible as it was only one hundred yards away. The front lines were basically a mound of dead human and bug bodies along with the wrench and twisted metal of destroyed Predators and APC's. Whenever the mound got large-either battering ram warriors would clear it away or Predators would blast it into smaller bits.

Trig trained her rifle and found a warrior bug pinning a trooper to the ground and beginning to tear his or her limbs off. Gritting her teeth, Trig fired a .50 caliber round into the body of the bug and the trooper it was attacking. Putting the bug down and ending the trooper's torment.

"563."

"You did the right thing Trig, any of us couldn't have asked for more." said Ghost as she hefted her rifle onto her shoulder.

Trig cleared her mind of what she had just done and began switching to targets as fast as she could reload and fire. Slowly but surely, they begun advancing towards the front lines of the bugs.

When they were half way there, Commander Higgins voice roared in their COMS, "_Roland, NOW!_"

"_Copy that commander...ALL MARAUDERS-FIRE ME TO GLORY!_" barked Roland's voice as the marauders that had been supporting the troopers began activating their heavy jump packs. The blue engines on the back of each marauder glowed blue hot as they began to lift themselves into the air.

Trig watched as a marauder next to her deployed its flaps as well as its weapons. The exhaust of its powerful engines even caused Queen to crash into Joker. The marauder soon joined hundreds of others streaking across the sky as they arced over the front lines and began landing three hundred yards to the north.

"_This is it troopers! Push the bastards back to the marauders! Give em' hell!_" yelled Higgins.

There was the sound of thousands of troopers and vehicle drivers battle cries as they all fired at once into the bug lines. Felling hundreds in only a few seconds and splattering them against the bases of hills.

"_Preadators and Mastodons, don't bother driving around anything, roll over anything in your path!_" yelled Higgins.

The APC that E-5 had been hugging suddenly charged forward with its many bretheren, leaving E-5 running to catch up. "Get some!" yelled Riot as he sprayed thousands of minigun rounds into the warriors around them.

Trig had not been expecting it so soon, but they passed the front lines and into bug territory in little over six minutes.

"Well that was easy." said Ice Blonde as a Preadator rolled over the broken remains of a warrior bug in front of them.

"It ain't over yet sister." said Mave.

Indeed, they still had a long way to go to get to the Marauders, who were now creating chaos in bug lines. Trig could see Warriors and drones screaming at each other, wondering who they should attack lest they lose the upper hand.

And it all worked perfectly.

Trig grinned as she trained her rifle in front of her and the laser targeting dot focused on a warrior bug that was turning to face her.

* * *

**30 Miles North, 0346 hrs (3:46 a.m.) (Approx. 2 hours since Medevac crash in the Helian Jungles)**

It was still dark out and Rookie was extremely thankful for the technologies that allowed his HUD to have night vision. The entire scenery was bathed in green light so that he could see just as clearly as if it were daylight.

The compass in his HUD also told him where he was going. The Helian Jungles bordered both the Abyssal Hills and the city of Canterton, so Rookie was looking to go to the South East if he was going to meet his squad at Canterton.

He'd been hiking for the past hour and a half and still did not need the rumble drug containers implanted in his armor on his thighs. Only when the going got tough would he be forced to use them, or when the pain returned.

The Helian Jungles were a mysterious place, peaceful, though not necessarily safe. One could easily get lost in here without a map.

He had just jumped across a ditch when the feminine voice in his head returned, "_**PLEASE HURRY, I CAN FEEL THEM GETTING**_** CLOSER.**"

Rookie in turn answered back, "_**STAY CALM AND DON'T PANIC, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT. STAY HIDDEN. I'M COMING FOR**_ **YOU**."

"_**THEY'RE WHISPERING...I CAN HEAR THEM...THEY WANT ME TO JOIN THEM...BETRAY YOU...IT** **HURTS...PLEASE** **HURRY.**_" answered the voice with a noticeable hint of distress in her voice.

"**JUST HANG ON**." was all Rookie could answer before the voice once again disappeared. Rookie had begun to deduce that it was the voice of the psychic teenager, obviously in great distress wherever she was holed up. How Rookie was able to converse with her, that was beyond him. But if the Bugs so much as turned their ugly eyes her way, he would burn them to a crisp.

What was interesting was that she said "They" wanted her to join them, to betray the Federation, and there was only thing Rookie knew that had the power to converse with humans on a telepathic level.

A Queen bug. And it must be close if it were able to reach out to the teen.

If...no..._when_ he caught up to his squad, he would be sure to point it out.

"_**WHAT DO THEY WANT WITH** **ME?"**_ asked the girl, clearly frightened.

"_**THEY WANT TO USE YOU AGAINST THE FEDERATION. AGAINST YOUR OWN PEOPLE. THEY WANT TO TURN YOU INTO SOMETHING UNRECOGNIZABLE SO THAT WE WOULD BE TORN ON WHO TO** **FIGHT."** _answered Rookie.

"_**I...I DON'T WANT TO! I DON'T WANT TO BECOME ONE OF** **THEM!**__**" ** _she began to sob.

"_**I KNOW YOU DON'T, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE STRONG AGAINST THEM, THEY WILL WANT TO MAKE THEMSELVES LOOK POWERFUL SO THAT THEY OVERWHELM YOU, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THEM, PUSH THEM OUT OF YOUR MIND."**_Rookie thought.

"_**HER VOICE...WHENEVER IT SPEAKS...IT HURTS SO MUCH."**_said the girl.

_**"I CAN'T SAY THAT I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL, BUT YOU ARE A PSYCHIC, SHE WILL NOT BE EXPECTING YOU TO PUT UP A FIGHT, IF SHE CAN SENSE YOU, THEN YOU CAN SENSE HER."** _said Rookie as waded through a small river.

"_**BUT...I...I CAN'T, SHE'S JUST SO...SCARY!"** _came the reply.

_**"SHE MAY BE, BUT ONLY IF YOU LET HER. YOUR MIND IS YOUR MIND, AND NOT** **HERS."**_Rookie responded.

There was a long pause, and Rookie believed she had cut off the psychic link, only for her to say, "_**PLEASE** **HURRY...PLEASE"**_

Rookie swore he wouldn't let a Queen bug out of his grasp again. He was traveling through some brush when he came to a clearing where one of P-571's moon's shown brightly down upon him. If anyone saw him now, they would think of him as a wraith.

There was a sudden snapping of wood to his left and Rookie's reflexes kicked into action, pointing his wrists at the brush that bordered the clearing. He waited a couple of seconds before he saw something begin to emerge from the brush, tightening his grip on his Dragon's Breath.

"Miss me?" asked Sergeant Nores as she emerged from the brush carrying her assault rifle.

"You've got to be kidding me, you left your squad to follow me?" Rookie growled.

"No, they're right here." Elise said, waving her hand as the six other troopers Rookie had seen also emerged from the brush carrying different weapons. "I thought you said you were in no condition to go where I'm going." Rookie said.

"Hell Corporal its like a suspense movie out here, we figured waiting around for something to happen to us wasn't the ideal situation." said Workshop, hefting his rifle over his shoulder.

"How did you find me?"

"Follow the angry footsteps in the ground." replied Tali, causing some of the troopers to laugh.

Rookie smirked at the comment but nevertheless was glad that the troopers were by his side once more. "Listen up all of you, and that means you too Elise. I plan on rescuing my squad and the psychic teenager no matter the cost. There once was a saying that those who sacrafice the few for the needs of the many are the heroes. I think that's bullshit. You're all no good to this mission dead. So stay alive and watch each other's backs." said Rookie.

The young lance corporal could tell that all of the trooper's eyebrows were raised as Elise stepped forward, "Normally I should have shot your ass back at the crash site for slander such as that, but you seem pretty intent on your objective, very well, we will follow your lead." she said.

"Good, shut up and get behind me..._ma'am_." replied Rookie as he turned around and once again began truding through the brush. Despite Rookie's rather rude remarks, Elise and what remained of her F-5 squad fell into line behind Rookie.

_What in the hell has gotten into the Rookie I used to know?_ thought Elise as she walked behind Rookie. _Its like someone's lobotomized him._

The makeshift squad fell into line behind Rookie as he led the way deeper into the jungle. They could all tell where they were going by following the red laser pointer dots that flowed up and down Rookie's armor.

They had walked for about another half hour before Rookie saw the signs that they were getting tired as they crossed in front of a small cliff. Snorting in frustration, he said, "We'll camp here for the night." he said as the squad settled in a circle.

The entire squad began removing their top layer of armor, a feature they were all thankful for to let their skin breath once more. Elise watched as Rookie's helmet retracted and raised an eyebrow as his chest armor came apart in a much different pattern than any of her or her squad's.

"Uh...what?" asked Elise.

"The Mark VI combat armor is designed for troopers equipped for hazardous situations, it cannot be fully removed unless a Federation starship or base has the necessary equipment for it." Rookie instantly replied.

"Right."

"Mhmm."

"If I may ask a personal question Lance Corporal?" asked Zeke as she stared at Rookie's armor.

"Yes?"

"Whats with you?" she asked.

"Alright Zeke lets not get to-" Elise began.

"No, its alright Elise, she asked a valid question and it shall be answered." Rookie said as he stood up in the middle of the circle of troopers. He looked Zeke straight in the eyes before he removed the Federation tank top that he wore underneath his armor. It fortunantly did not get to the point as Zeke was more focused on his abdominals than she was on his scars.

Rolling his eyes, he turned to Elise, "These..." he said while pointing to the burn marks. "are from that day that we both remember." Elise's eyes grew wide at the sight of so many scars and burns on his chest.

"These..." he said while tracing his right shoulder and left side, "are from fighting the bugs on the _John A. Warden_."

He turned back to Zeke, who was now focused on him, "So to answer your question Zeke. Whats with me is that I've cheated death so many times that he probably is holding a grudge against me every second of the day. I've stared death in the eyes so many times that he himself as cowered away, and thats not an exaggeration. When a man has his meeting with death, it changes him-whether it was for the better or worse, I don't know."

Zeke slowly nodded as Rookie but his tank top back on.

"Figures." Rookie mumbled as he sat down.

"Yah know what Rookie? You're attitude is really starting to piss me off." said Elise as she stood up and faced Rookie who was lying down.

"What? That I'm only stating the truth?" he asked.

"No, its that you believe you're one in a kind." she said.

Without any warning or prediction, Elise dove at Rookie and instantly had her armored knee pinning his left leg and her arms pinning both of his. Rookie made no motion to throw her off or retaliate as she straddled his waist and leaned down to stare him in the eyes.

To everyone but Rookie's shock, Elise began unzipping her inner suit to the point where it reached her navel but clung to her breasts. Rookie looked at her stomach to see a rather large and discolored looking scar just above her navel.

"You see this Rookie? This was day 5 after getting put in my own squad after I graduated boot camp. Getting stabbed up the midsection by a Warrior that had killed my entire squad. And you know what? It was the most painful thing I'd felt in my entire life, I felt as if my body was collapsing in upon itself. But you know what? I kept firing on that bastard as he waved me around like a damn trophy. Yah, I killed him and I survived by the skin on my body. Cloned organs replaced those I lost." she growled.

Rookie's gaze did not waver from her eyes, but she saw a sense of regret in his eyes.

"So the moral of the story is, we are all troopers, we are all fighting the same war, and we all have the same enemy. So I don't want you thinking for a minute that you're little escapade to rescue you're squad takes priority above all else."

"Then what does Sergeant, what takes priority?" he asked.

"Survival."

The two former squadmates glared at each other to the awkwardness of the surrounding troopers before Elise zipped her inner suit back up and removed herself from Rookie. Elise watched as Rookie got up as soon as she was off him and retrieve his armor.

He activated his helmet and turned around to the squad, "Get some sleep, I'll take first watch. We move in two hours."

And with that, he disappeared into jungle.


	9. Author's Update

Dear Readers,

If you are a follower of this story, I want to extend my apologies for not updating this story since...March or so. The reason being is that I am fully engrossed in my Warhammer 40k stories, and I've had little thoughts about my other stories as far as updating or writing. Rest assured however, that I have by no means given up on "The Rookie", and will return to it sometime in the fall or winter of 2013.

Questions? Thoughts? Rages?

PM me.

Sincerely,

AlwaysBetOnVoid.


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